India, Korea Explore New Avenues of Korean Investment in India

New Delhi, Dec 19 (UNI) India and Republic of Korea on Wednesday explored new avenues of Korean investment in India’s infrastructure modernisation and encouraged Korean companies, known for their technological feats and global outlook, to create newer opportunities in India.

The visiting Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said both sides also held “extensive discussions on defence matters.
“We explored new avenues of Korean investment in India’s infrastructure modernisation. We encouraged Korean companies, known for their technological feats and global outlook, to create newer opportunities by partnering in Government of India’s flagship initiatives such as ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’, ‘Digital India’ and ‘Smart City’,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in her press statement after the 9th India-Korea Joint Commission Meeting.

From the Korean side, the delegation was led by the visiting Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.”We expressed satisfaction over the growth in bilateral trade and investment over the past two years. We agreed to redouble our efforts to realise our leaders’ vision of raising the quantum of our bilateral trade to USD 50 billion by the year 2030,” Ms Swaraj said.
Both sides agreed that “early conclusion” of ongoing negotiations to upgrade the bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and implementation of trade facilitation measures already agreed upon will help to move towards this target.

“We discussed potential cooperation in the energy sector. As two large energy consumers of Asia, closer consultations between us serve our mutual interest in securing predictable energy supplies at stable prices,” Ms Swaraj said.

From the Indian side, we also extended an invitation for Republic of Korea to join the International Solar Alliance, the Minister said.
“I conveyed to Foreign Minister Kang that India sees Republic of Korea as an indispensable partner in its ‘Act East’ policy and in its vision of the Indo-Pacific,” Ms Swaraj said.
“We both acknowledged the complementary aspects of India’s Act East Policy and ROK’s New Southern Policy that creates a natural synergy for strengthening and creating new avenues
for cooperation,” she said.

“We agreed on the importance of a free, open, peaceful and rules-based order as being essential for achieving our common goal of peace, stability and prosperity in our shared region and beyond”.
Ms Swaraj said at the deliberations she reiterated Government of India’s continued support to the efforts being made by Korean President Moon Jae-in to address the Korean nuclear issue and promote inter-Korean ties through dialogue and negotiation.

Both sides at the talks shared the view that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is a “global scourge” and there was also a resolve to combat it through coordinated regional and global efforts. In her statement, the visiting Korean Minister Ms Kang Kyung-wha said at the talks both she and
Ms Swaraj resolved to give “further momentum” to the heightened ties between two countries.

“Korea-India relations have made impressive and steady progress for last 45 years,” she said. “Three years since 2015, the bilateral relation is rising to a new level with the synergy generated between President Moon’s Southern Policy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Act East Policy,” she said adding this was demonstrated well during President Moon’s visit to India in July.

Both sides also discussed about defence ties, the visiting dignitary said.
“….more specifically, we held extensive discussion on defence industry cooperation,” she said.
“We agreed to continue high level exchanges between our two countries,” the visiting Minister said.

Source:UNIIndia

Image Courtesy:DeccanHerald