The European Union wants its free trade agreement with South Korea to serve as the model for future pacts in other parts of Asia.

Ignacio Garcia Bercero, the EU’s chief negotiator on the deal, said at a seminar Monday in Seoul that the FTA is very much the type of trade agreement that the EU would wish to conclude with other countries in the region.

The agreement, which comes in to effect July 1st, is the EU’s first trade pact in Asia.

Garcia Bercero said talks on an FTA with Singapore are very advanced and talks with other Association of Southeast Asian Countries are also planned.

Annual EU-South Korea trade is worth around $90 billion. Garcia Bercero said the accord will eliminate tariffs on almost 99 percent of it.