Modi, South Korean prez to hold talks

During South Korean President Moon Jae-in's four-day visit to India, both the countries will work on narrowing differences on the transfer of defence technology by mutual dialogue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Moon will also discuss ways to speed up negotiations to upgrade the bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which was inked in August 2009 and came into force in January 2010.

Moon arrive in New Delhi on Sunday. This is going to be his first state visit to India. He will meet President Ram Nath Kovind and hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his stay in New Delhi. Modi will join Moon on a visit to a manufacturing unit of South Korean company Samsung at NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh, the Ministry of External Affairs, Raveesh Kumar, said.

Prime Minister and South Korean President will address India-Korea CEOs' roundtable on Tuesday.

The two leaders will discuss ways to expand bilateral defence cooperation, particularly on encouraging South Korean companies to build military hardware in India, in collaboration with their local partners. They will discuss ways to resolve differences on the transfer of defence technology from South Korea to India, particularly for proposed Rs 32640 crore project for building 12 Mine Counter Measure Vessels (MCMVs) by Goa Shipyard Limited in collaboration with South Korean company Kangnam Corporation, sources told the DH.

The MCMVs are used to sweep the seas for mines and to disarm them. New Delhi and Seoul were in talks till a couple of years ago to finalize the terms for the transfer of technology in order to pave the way for Kangnam Corporation to tie up with Goa Shipyard Limited to build the minesweeper vessels for Indian Navy. The parleys, however, could not progress due to differences over terms for the transfer of technology.

Both India and South Korea, however, are keen to resolve differences over the transfer of technology in order to expand bilateral cooperation, particularly for manufacturing of military hardware, sources in New Delhi said.

The Ministry of Defence earlier this year issued notices inviting expression of interests from Kangnam Corporation of South Korea as well as four other companies of Italy, Spain, Germany and Russia to build the 12 MCMVs in India.

Modi visited South Korea in May 2015. It was during his visit that India and South Korea elevated their ties to Special Strategic Partnership. “Relations with (South) Korea is a logical extension of our Act East Policy. The Republic of Korea (South Korea) has a new Southern Strategy. So there is a lot of convergence as far as our outlook is concerned and we expect to cover the usual bilateral, regional and global issues during the talks to be held when South Korean President will be visiting (India),” said the MEA spokesperson.