S Korea, Turkmenistan agree to sign double-taxation avoidance agreement

South Korea and Turkmenistan agreed to sign a double-taxation avoidance pact in a bid to promote bilateral investment and other exchanges, the Finance Ministry said on Monday.

Following negotiations with its Turkmen counterpart, the two sides reached a preliminary agreement on the pact, which can enable the South Korean companies to evade double taxation on business profits, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry believed that the pact, once to be signed officially, will encourage local companies to advance into the Central Asian country.

The two sides saw a rise in the bilateral trade in recent years, as Seoul's exports to Turkmenistan stood at 22.36 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, marking a sharp surge from 6.88 billion dollars in previous year, the ministry said.

South Korea has double-taxation avoidance pacts with 78 countries as of October, the ministry said, adding that 74 of them are currently in effect. 　

Source:Xinhua