South Korea and India have signed an agreement to upgrade their economic ties to a comprehensive partnership.

As part of the agreement signed in Seoul on Friday, India will abolish or reduce tariffs on 85 percent of South Korean products exported to India within ten years of the pact’s adoption. South Korea will do the same on 93 percent of imports from India.

The pact will ease South Korean restrictions on Indian professionals’ stay in South Korea, giving more Indian information technology experts the opportunity to work in Korea.

But the agreement will have limited impact on the agriculture and textile industries of the two countries, with the minimized opening of the markets for those products.

India prefers to refer to free trade deals as comprehensive economic partnership agreements due to the chronic trade deficits the nation is currently experiencing and negative public sentiment toward FTAs.

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