New Delhi: India and South Korea have increased the target for bilateral trade to $50 billion in the next 12 years, even as they tried to add some strategic heft to their relationship with statements of support for de-nuclearisation talks with North Korea and joint projects in third countries.
A day after jointly visiting the newly-inaugurated Samsung factory, South Korean President Moon Jae-in held formal delegation-level talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
With economic relations being the cornerstone of India-South Korean ties, both leaders set a new target for bilateral trade. ‘We urged the business community from both our countries to leverage opportunities arising from complementarities between the two economies, to enhance investment, to promote joint ventures, and to work towards the goal of raising bilateral trade to $ 50 billion by 2030,’ said the joint statement. The current bilateral trade is around $20 billion.
Moon coined a new acronym ‘3P Plus’ for boosting bilateral ties through cooperation for people, prosperity and peace.
After their formal talks, both leaders then took part in a round-table of 24 chief executives on ways to improve the investment environment.
Eleven agreements were signed by both sides, including a statement on an early harvest package that would facilitate negotiations on an upgraded Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. There was also a memorandum of understanding on the future strategy group, which is supposed to look at cooperation in state-of-the-art technologies like Internet of Things (IOT) and artificial intelligence.
While the economic component thrived, there was a palpable effort to give more depth in the strategic aspect of the ‘Special Strategic Partnership’.
‘We resolved to work together to add new substance and impetus to bilateral cooperation in all areas of engagement so as to contribute to regional and global peace and prosperity. In this context, we agreed to explore tripartite partnership for development in third countries, beginning with capacity building programmes in Afghanistan,’ said the joint statement.
South Korea would be the second country after China with whom India would undertake a joint project in Afghanistan. Seoul had been an active player in Afghanistan, sending boots on the group and substantial investment in building infrastructure.
With the visit taking place just a month after the inter-Korean summit, President Moon reportedly shared the status of those talks with the Indian PM.
‘During our talks, I told President Moon that proliferation linkages between North-East Asia and South Asia is a matter of concern to India. Therefore, India is also a stakeholder in the peace process. We will do our bit to ensure peace,’ Modi said in his press statement.
According to the Indian ambassador to Korea, Vikram Doraiswami, Moon told Modi that there ‘will be bumps and bruises on the road, but I am confident about the outcome’.
In his press statement, President Moon said that his Indian host ‘reaffirmed his stance to continue actively supporting peace on the Korean Peninsula’.
When asked to provide more details about India’s ‘active role’ in the denuclearisation talks, MEA secretary (east) Preeti Saran noted that the India has had a historical role in the diplomatic efforts in the peninsula, especially during the Korean war.
‘It was definitely mentioned by President Moon himself that they would like to engage with India on the same plane as they do with other countries… forsee a positive role that India can play,’ Saran said.
The joint statement welcomed ‘recent positive developments’ and hoped that they would lead to ‘complete denuclearisation’. ‘We pledged to work together to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and delivery systems, particularly to terrorists and non-state actors,’ it added.
The senior Indian diplomat said that there was ‘specific discussions on defence cooperation’.
‘A point made by President Moon that while there was strong economic content despite it being well below potential, he did see that given our special strategic partnership, we should work together on defence and strategic issues,’ Saran said.
Modi responded that since defence production was an important element of ‘Make in India’, Korean companies should participate in defence production in India.
Interestingly, there was a paragraph on recognising ‘freedom of navigation, overflight and unimpeded lawful commerce’, which was a reference to the South China Sea dispute. The two countries also supported ‘peaceful resolution of conflict through dialogue, underlying the centrality of sovereignty and territorial integrity, in accordance with the universally-recognised principles of international law’.
This is a new addition in the bilateral statement as compared to the last document issued during Modi’s visit to South Korea in May 2015. South Korea took a more forthright position on the South China Sea in November 2015 when then president Park Geun-hye called upon China to guarantee the freedom of flight and navigation .
