India, Korea for better defence industry cooperation

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Wednesday agreed to step up defence industry cooperation, including military hardware export by Korean companies to India.

Swaraj and Kang led the delegations of India and South Korea in the ninth meeting of the bilateral joint commission. They reviewed the bilateral relations and the implementation of the decisions taken during the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae in New Delhi in July.

“When it comes to defence industry, an exemplary win-win cooperation field, we discussed the Korean defence industry's exports to India, Korean companies' participation in India's defence industry corridor and the defence industry roadmap,” Kang told journalists after her meeting with Swaraj.

They also agreed on increasing the role of Economic Development Cooperation Fund of South Korea in investing in infrastructure projects in India.

Swaraj said that she and Kang had agreed to redouble efforts to realise the vision of raising the quantum of bilateral trade to $ 50 billion by the year 2030.

“We shared the view that early conclusion of ongoing negotiations to upgrade our bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and implementation of trade facilitation measures already agreed upon will help us move towards this target,” said the External Affairs Minister.