South Korea’s Ambassador to Geneva Lee Tae-ho has been elected as chair of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements of the World Trade Organization(WTO).

The foreign ministry said Friday that Lee, who serves as South Korea’s permanent representative to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva, was elected to the post during the WTO’s General Council session in Geneva on Thursday.

Lee will serve as committee chair for one year.

The WTO set up the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements to transparently and systematically manage multilateral and bilateral trade accords across the world, including free trade agreements(FTA).

The foreign ministry expressed hope that South Korea’s experience with the adoption and implementation of numerous FTAs will support the WTO’s efforts to strike a balance between regional trade accords and rule-based multilateral trading systems.