The European Union and South Korea on Wednesday signed a digital trade agreement aimed at simplifying cross-border digital transactions and strengthening economic ties. The deal was reached at their first summit in three years.
The digital agreement, along with other cooperative measures on sharing classified security information and passenger data, reflects both parties’ efforts to build new alliances and reinforce existing partnerships.
This comes at a time of heightened global uncertainty, including U.S. tariffs, Chinese export restrictions, and conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Building on a free-trade agreement that came into force in 2011, the new digital pact seeks to:
The agreement is expected to lower costs for businesses and boost trade in services. Currently, the EU is South Korea’s third-largest trading partner in goods, while South Korea ranks as the EU’s eighth-largest.
The deal highlights the EU’s ambition to set global standards for digital trade, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region. The EU has already signed digital agreements with Singapore, Japan, and digital components in trade deals with the UK, Chile, and New Zealand.
According to the World Trade Organization, digitally delivered services trade in 2025 was approximately five times higher than in 2005, with 10% growth over the past three years, outpacing goods and other services trade. The EU is the world’s largest services exporter, nearly half of which are digital.
The agreement will require approval from the European Parliament before coming into full effect.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran to pay compensation for decades of deaths and damage, adding a new demand to peace talks as Tehran see...
Kyrgyzstan has proposed hosting part of Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries’ warehouse and logistics network, aiming to reduce supply-chain risks a...
North Korea has deployed troops, weapons and now, according to a Ukrainian intelligence official, a missile unit to support Russia's war against Ukrai...
One hundred years after the First World War and more than eighty years after the devastation of the Second World War gave rise to the United Nations, humanity once again finds itself living in an age of permanent crisis.
Flights arriving at Catania airport in eastern Sicily were suspended after volcanic ash from a new eruption of Mount Etna drifted into the airspace around the airport, disrupting operations at one of Italy’s busiest aviation hubs.
For months, efforts to secure the Red Sea have focused on what is happening in the water. Naval deployments have increased, governments have expanded maritime cooperation and shipping companies have adapted to persistent security threats.
Greenland has issued a “strong warning” to a U.S. oil company linked to President Donald Trump after drilling equipment was brought ashore without the required government approvals, according to British media.
Iran said it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz but repeated that the U.S. must meet other conditions.
Kyrgyzstan has proposed hosting part of Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries’ warehouse and logistics network, aiming to reduce supply-chain risks and strengthen trade with Russia.
North Korea has deployed troops, weapons and now, according to a Ukrainian intelligence official, a missile unit to support Russia's war against Ukraine, marking Pyongyang's most significant involvement in a war since the 1950s.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran to pay compensation for decades of deaths and damage, adding a new demand to peace talks as Tehran seeks compensation and sanctions relief before reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
A criminal court in Damascus has sentenced former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.
Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom plans to increase its workforce at Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant to 100 specialists by the autumn, depending on the security situation and progress toward a halt in hostilities between Washington and Tehran.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment