In the Korea-Poland summit held in Poland on July 8 (Warsaw time), The President and his Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski concurred that a Korea-EU FTA is essential for the economic development of both Korea and Poland.

The two presidents had both a one-on-one and an expanded meeting, at which the importance of the Korea-EU FTA was raised, President Lee''s spokesperson Kim Eun-hye said.

This is a good sign for the Korea-EU FTA, now in its last-phase of negotiations, since Poland has so far expressed a lukewarm attitude toward such an agreement.

During the press conference following the Korea-Poland summit, the Polish President said that the Korea-EU FTA agreement will positively affect both Korean and Polish economies.

The spokesperson explained that President Lee had allotted a fair amount of time during the bilateral summit to help his Polish counterpart recognize the importance of the Korea-EU FTA. Such a sudden change of posture by Poland had not been expected by either side, she added.

In the bilateral summit, The President highly emphasized that the Korea-EU FTA would greatly increase Korean enterprises'' investment into Poland, and that Korea had a plan to develop Poland as an industrial bridgehead, reaching out to Russia and the European Union.

The Korean government is currently engaged in the last round of FTA negotiations with the EU, focusing on core items including tariff issues.