South Korea on Thursday, Geneva time, wrapped up initial bilateral sessions on the opening of its rice market with 9 nations including Pakistan, India, and Egypt.

The Geneva meetings kicked off on May 6 and lasted about a month, during which time South Korean delegates explained the need to extend their country's barring of most rice imports in order to protect Korean farmers. Meanwhile, Canada and Argentina, which have never exported rice to Korea, stressed the importance of market liberalization under WTO rules.

Seoul officials said the participation of the world's major rice exporters in the talks indicate their interest in increasing rice exports to South Korea. India is the world's second-largest rice exporting country with Pakistan ranking fifth and Egypt eighth.

Seoul will hold rice talks with the U.S. and China around mid-June. Those second-round talks are expected to be full-fledged negotiations that will likely see various bargaining chips produced by both sides.