Negotiators of South Korea and the European Union reached tentative agreement on Tuesday over their free trade pact, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

"At the delegate-level, both sides have reached a provisional free trade accord," said Lee Hye-min, South Korea's chief negotiator for the talks after the two-day negotiation talks between the two sides in Seoul.

However, Lee added that "whether to conclude the negotiations will be decided at a ministerial-level meeting on April 2."

South Korean trade minister Kim Jong-hoon and his EU counterpart Catherine Ashton will finalize the pact in London on April 2, said Lee.

It was the eighth round of such negotiations. The two sides began the talks in May 2007, with difference over industrial tariffs and auto trade initially hampering progress, the Yonhap said.

South Korea is Asia's fourth-largest economy and the EU is the world's single-largest economic bloc. The EU was South Korea's second-largest trading partner after China, with two-way trade reportedly reaching over US$90 billion.

During a high-level talks earlier this month, the two sides reached a tentative agreement on eliminating or phasing out tariffs on 96 percent of EU goods and 99 percent of South Korea's goods within three years, according to Yonhap.

They have also agreed to abolish tariffs on all industrial goods within five years after the pact takes effect.

On the most sensitive issue, the two sides agreed to eliminate tariffs on cars with an engine displacement of over 25 liters within three years. Tariffs for smaller cars will be lifted after five years, the report added.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2009)