(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-01 10:18

SEOUL, South Korea -- The European Union's chief negotiator in free trade talks with South Korea said Friday that the current round of negotiations has yielded significant advances but added that contentious issues such as automobiles were not discussed.

"I think I can say in this round we have achieved an enormous amount of progress in the negotiations," Ignacio Garcia Bercero said at a news conference. He cited progress in areas such as trade subsidies and intellectual property rights.

However, he also said a number of difficulties remain. The two sides agreed not to discuss politically sensitive issues such as industrial tariffs, automobiles and televisions during the current round, which ends Friday.

Garcia Bercero also said that no specific date has been set for the next round but that it may take place around April.

The two sides began the talks in May and had hoped to reach an agreement by the end of last year, though differences over industrial tariffs and other issues had stymied progress.