Peru sees free deal with South Korea by November

SEOUL, Sept 2 - Resource-rich Peru expects to reach a free trade agreement with South Korea in the next few months to expand their $1.6 billion a year two-way trade, Peru's foreign minister said on Wednesday.

"We expect to finish our work by October, so the agreement can be signed by the time the president is here in November," Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde told Reuters in an interview.

The minister said Peru had also stepped up talks with Japan on a free trade deal and hoped to have an agreement by the time Peruvian President Alan Garcia travels to Asia for the APEC summit in Singapore in November.

In recent years, resource-poor South Korea has sought free trade agreements and deals to secure commodities. The minister discussed energy cooperation during his trip to South Korea this week.

A South Korean foreign ministry official said: "We are currently working on the trade agreement with Peru and expect positive results".

Peru, whose main exports include copper, gold, zinc, crude petroleum, is aiming to have free trade deals that cover 90 percent of its trade by mid 2011, the foreign minister said.