Seoul, May 7 (IANS) South Korea has called on the international community to jointly respond to the recent spread of trade restrictive measures by major economies in a high-level meeting of World Trade Organization (WTO) member nations, the trade ministry said on Thursday.

Kwon Hye-jin, director general for trade negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, attended the WTO’s General Council meeting held for two days beginning Wednesday (local time) in Geneva, as the chief representative of South Korea, according to her office, reports Yonhap news agency.

In the meeting, Kwan urged WTO member countries to refrain from imposing trade protectionist measures, such as tariff hikes and import restrictions, saying such moves can create a “vicious cycle” of retaliatory trade measures among countries, the ministry said.

She claimed global trade issues, such as the oversupply of steel and other goods, should be addressed in a way that finds fundamental solutions, it added.

The ministry said Kwon also held bilateral meetings with representatives from Britain, Japan, Turkey and other nations to discuss the steel safeguard measures recently adopted by the European Union and Britain, as well as other pending trade issues.

“Amid the spread of global trade protectionism, we actively raised the issue of tariff-rate quotas affecting South Korea’s steel industry through both multilateral and bilateral channels,” Kwon said in a press release, vowing Seoul’s continued role in the international community’s efforts to restore the WTO-based multilateral trading system.

Meanwhile, South Korea and the European Union established a special joint committee to discuss emerging trade and economic issues, including the EU’s push for industrial regulations, Seoul’s trade ministry said.

The Korea-EU Specialized Committee on Emerging Trade and Economic Issues held its inaugural meeting in Seoul, jointly led by South Korean Vice Trade Minister Park Jung-sung and the EU’s director general for trade and economic security, Sabine Weyand.

The vice trade ministerial committee was newly established to help the two sides jointly respond to recent shifts in the global trade environment, including global supply chain restructuring and the rise of trade protectionism, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources.

–IANS

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