South Korea and Brazil have signed a bilateral Trade and Investment Promotion Framework(TIPF) to deepen related ties.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the two nations signed the TIPF and held an inaugural meeting between trade minister Ahn Duk-geun and Marcio Rosa, deputy minister of Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, in Seoul on Friday morning.

The framework seeks to expand mutually beneficial economic cooperation and address new trade issues such as supply chains, green energy, the digital sector, and biotechnology, but unlike a free trade agreement, it excludes tariff negotiations and pursues the deepening of practical industrial relations.

Brazil is the first Latin American nation South Korea has inked a TIPF with and the 12th following agreements with the United Arab Emirates, the Dominican Republic, Hungary, Bahrain, Poland, Madagascar, Uzbekistan, Finland, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and Qatar.

South Korea and Brazil plan to convene a TIPF committee annually to determine specific cooperation projects in the fields of industry, trade, and energy, and will also serve as a channel to resolve difficulties faced by companies of the two nations investing and advancing into the opposite market.