About K-CAFTA

Korea-Central America Free Trade Agreement

To encourage expansion and diversification of trade between ROK and CA countries, the first official FTA negotiation was kicked off in June 2015 and the final agreement was reached in November 2016 after seven rounds of negotiation meetings.

As a result, in February 2018, ROK signed FTA with five Central American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, and ROK became the first East Asian country to sign a joint FTA with these five economies.

In case of Guatemala, an initial participant of the K-CAFTA negotiation from the initial stage in 2015, the negotiation was concluded and the FTA with ROK was signed in September 2023. While the ratification of the FTA between ROK and Guatemala is pending as of September 2024, an official letter of Guatemala’s intent for the accession to the K-CAFTA agreement was sent to ROK in January 2024.

The effective years of the FTA with the five Central American countries, excluding Guatemala, are as follows: Nicaragua and Honduras in October 2019, Costa Rica in November 2019, El Salvador in January 2020, and Panama in March 2021. The effective year of Korea-Guatemala FTA is expected to be 2024.

K-CAFTA Signing Ceremony

* Source : MOTIE (2018)

Guatemala’s Signing of Accession to K-CAFTA

* Source : MOTIE (2024)

History of K-CAFTA

08-01-2024

Guatemala officially signs the K-CAFTA accession protocol

03-09-2023

Guatemala concludes negotiations to join the K-CAFTA

01-03-2021

The K-CAFTA fully enters into force

The K-CAFTA is ratified by five Central American countries
: Honduras(Oct 2019), Nicaragua(Oct 2019), Costa Rica(Nov 2019), El Salvador(Jan 2020), and Panama(Mar 2021)

21-02-2018

The K-CAFTA officially signed

The K-CAFTA is signed between the Republic of Korea and five Central American countries
: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

16-11-2016

Declaration of substantive conclusion of the K-CAFTA Negotiations

· (Oct 2016) The 7th round of the K-CAFTA negotiations in Seoul
· (Sep 2016) The 6th round of the K-CAFTA negotiations in Managua
· (Aug 2016) The 5th round of the K-CAFTA negotiations in Seoul
· (May 2016) The 4th round of the K-CAFTA negotiations in Tegucigalpa
· (Mar 2016) Intersessional meeting with six CAcountries in Seoul
· (Feb 2016) The 3rd round of the K-CAFTA negotiations in San Francisco

18-06-2015

Official declaration of start of the K-CAFTA negotiations

· (Nov 2015) The 2nd round of the K-CAFTA negotiations in san Salvador
· (Sep 2015) The 1st round of the K-CAFTA negotiations in Seoul

10-2012

Feasibility review meeting of the K-CAFTA

10-2010

Start of joint research on the K-CAFTA

The Republic of Korea and six Central American countries participated in the joint research.
The six Central American countries included Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

* Source : FTA Korea