< Table of Contents > ● Korean and Indian leaders adopt joint statement ● President holds talks with Indian Vice President and Opposition Leader of the Lower      House of Parliament of India ● President Attends India-Korea Economic Cooperation Forum ● Culture ties Korea and India together ● President visits Gandhi’s memorial and Korea-India ICT Business Forum ● President meets with Members of Korean Community in India ● President Park's Interview with India's Doordarshan TV

● Korean and Indian leaders adopt joint statement



President Park Geun-hye, currently on a state visit to India, held summit talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 16 in New Delhi. The two leaders adopted a joint statement in which they agreed to develop the bilateral strategic partnership in a substantive, concrete manner.

They recognized that the two countries have made advancements in the bilateral relationship since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1973, which have served to enhance the progress and prosperity of both countries. In order to further develop the ties for the next four decades, the leaders presented a common vision with three elements: “a stronger high level of political cooperation, an open economic and trade environment and deeper cultural understanding.”

At the press conference after the summit, President Park said with confidence, “Since the two countries share a strategic partnership, we discussed ways to promote substantial win-win development. The joint statement will present a future blueprint for our bilateral relationship.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh emphasized the economic cooperation between Korea and India. President Park asked for the prime minister’s interest and support so that Korean enterprises will be able to more easily take part in Indian infrastructure projects, such as road and railroad construction.

In regard to business cooperation and trade, the two leaders discussed a future roadmap for long-term cooperation. They agreed to share their experiences in business cooperation across a wide range of areas.

The leaders shared the common understanding that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) has contributed to boosting trade and investment between the two countries. They reaffirmed the need to increase trade in goods and services as well as investment through the upgrading of the CEPA. In this regard, both leaders agreed to make an all-out effort to complete the process as soon as possible and to hold a ministerial meeting between trade ministers in the first of the year in Seoul.

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☞ ROK-India Joint Statement

● President holds talks with Indian Vice President and Opposition Leader of the Lower House of Parliament of India



President Park Geun-hye, now on her four-day state visit to India, held a series of talks with the Lok Sabha’s, the lower house of parliament’s, Opposition Leader Sushma Swaraj and Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari on January 16.

They exchanged their in-depth opinions on how to enhance bilateral cooperation and deal with a wide range of issues on the Korean Peninsula and worldwide.

The meetings came just after President Park had a summit with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and signed an array of agreements with her counterpart.

During the talks with Sushma Swaraj, President Park said, “Here, I saw, in person, how far India has come. This country has strong potential for economic growth.” Stressing that Korea’s strong point is its manufacturing industry while India’s is in IT services, the president emphasized that the two economies have complementary economic structures and that therein lies high potential for a further expansion of bilateral cooperation across many fields.

Meanwhile, the opposition leader said that she was deeply impressed by Park’s visit to her nation, pointing out that this visit takes place less than one year after the president took office.

Swaraj also said, “I have strong confidence that her diplomatic efforts with India are sure to succeed during her term, with still another four years to go.”

“Even if my Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Party) comes into power in the next election, we would respect every single word from those many agreements signed by the Korean and Indian governments at this time,” she stressed.

President Park expressed her deepest gratitude to the Indian government for its swift action of releasing a statement and sending stern messages condemning North Korea’s long-range missile tests in 2012 and its nuclear test in February 2013. She called for India’s continuous support and cooperation for her government’s policies on the North.

The president went on to say that the North’s highly developed nuclear weapons are posing a huge threat to world peace, as well as to the peninsula. In response, the Indian opposition leader sympathized with Koreans for their pain and worries caused by ceaseless provocative actions by the North.

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● President Attends India-Korea Economic Cooperation Forum



President Park Geun-hye attended the India-Korea Economic Cooperation Forum followed by a luncheon today. The Forum was co-hosted by India’s three major economic organizations—the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry. In her keynote speech at the Forum, President Park laid out a future vision, including a plan to step up bilateral economic cooperation.

The Economic Cooperation Forum also served as a Korea investor relations session, in which the investment environment in Korea and the successful cases of Indian investments in the country were introduced with the hope of attracting global businesses in India. This was a departure from past economic forums held in conjunction with presidential trips to developing countries, as these focused mainly on informing Korean businesses of investment conditions in those countries.

Invest Korea, a government-affiliated investment promotion agency, briefed the participants about how attractive Korea is as an investment destination. Tata Motors helped increase interest among Indian businesses in investing in Korea by introducing its own successful investment in Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company.

Participants from the Indian side explained the investment environment in general in India and went on to give an explanation of an industrial complex in Rajasthan exclusively for Korean companies, the establishment of which was agreed to during the Korea-India summit this time. Given that many Korean businesses have much interest in India’s IT, they also gave a briefing on their nation’s policy for a creative economy and the ICT investment climate.

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● Culture ties Korea and India together



“Korea and India have many things in common in terms of history and culture and even both countries’ Independence Day falls on the same day, August 15. Let’s expand cultural exchanges and further solidify the cultural ties between our two countries.”

So said President Park Geun-hye as she inaugurated the Korean Handicraft Exhibition at the Red Fort, a fortified former palace located in the center of Delhi, India, on January 17 during her four-day state visit to India.

There, the president voiced the importance of “communication through culture.”

The Red Fort, a 254 acre palace founded in 1648 by the 5th Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1657), is one of India’s most important cultural treasures and was even designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, President Park visited the Indian historical site, also known as a symbol of the nation’s independence from British rule in 1947, to pay her respects to and to show her interest in Indian culture. It was a step to enhance the two countries’ cultural ties as well.

Held in the Quarter Guard Gallery in the Red Fort, the handicraft exhibition showcased 49 art works by 22 Korean traditional and modern craftsmen. Korea’s artistic crafts were shared with the Indian visitors, including Kim Jeong-ok’s moon-shaped white porcelain jars, Kwon Young-jin’s lacquered boxes inlaid with mother-of-pearl, Han Seong-jae’s birch-made speakers and An Min-sik’s silver pots.

The show was attended by more than 40 people representing the culture and arts field from both Korea and India. Among the participants included Tara Gandhi, the president of the Mani Bhavan Gandhi Museum and granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) director general Pravin Srivastava, the Indian vice minister of culture and famous Korean craft artist Seo Young-hee.

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● President visits Gandhi’s memorial and Korea-India ICT Business Forum



President Park Geun-hye visited Raj Ghat, the memorial to the late Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), in New Delhi on January 17 to pay her respects to the Indian independence leader. President Park laid a wreath and honored his memory with a moment of silence. In the guestbook, she wrote, “I hope a human society with justice and peace, which Mahatma Gandhi sought all his life, can become true.”

On the same day, the president visited the Korea-India ICT Business Forum and a related expo. President Park said that, “New information and communications technology will help industries converge and this offers opportunities to make more jobs and to create new markets. It will serve as a core engine in developing creative industries.”

She urged business leaders of the two countries to present ways to carry out win-win cooperation in global markets. She also asked entrepreneurs of both countries to create an exemplary model of international cooperation by bringing together Korea’s prowess in hardware commercialization and joining it with India’s strength in world-leading software technology and talented human resources.

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● President meets with Members of Korean Community in India



President Park Geun-hye had a dinner with the members of the Korean community in India, the first destination of her first overseas trip in the New Year. At the meeting with some 180 Koreans, the President complimented and encouraged them for their critical role in helping advance relations between Korea and India.

President Park gave high marks to the fact that the Korean community in India has carried on the spirit of harmony that they fostered while weathering hardships in the early days of their settlement in the country. She went on to ask them to play an active part in furthering the mutually complementary partnership between the two countries, which have a time-honored legacy of exchanges, and in opening a new era of hope and happiness.

Furthermore, President Park noted that the approximately 7 million Koreans who are working hard for a brighter future in many different parts of the world constituted an invaluable asset to Korea. The President went on to say that the Government would expand the global network among Koreans to strengthen the foundation on which the progress of the nation and the enhancement of the living standards of overseas Koreans can be pursued together. On top of this, President Park said the Government would work to create more opportunities for them to realize their full potential at home and abroad.

Korean residents who attended the meeting asked the Government to take an interest in providing support for the establishment of Korean international schools, expansion of direct flights between the two nations and the promotion of the national image through the efforts to further fuel Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, in India.

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● President Park's interview with India's Doordarshan TV



President Park Geun-hye recently held an interview with India’s Doordarshan TV to express her views on the Korea-India relationship, bilateral cooperation in business and other sectors and on inter-Korean relations.

President Park said in the interview, which will be aired in India on January 14 and 15, that she, “values very much the Korea-India relationship,” adding that she has longed to visit India. The president begins her state visit to India on January 15.

President Park mentioned Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the great Bengali poet and the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, who wrote a four-lined poem about Korean independence in 1929, "The Lamp of the East.” The president said that this poem, quite famous in Korea, has given hope and courage to Koreans across the generations, many of whom also experienced hardship under colonial rule. She added that Koreans have very fond memories of that poem and continue to recite it today on many occasions.

President Park said that India has great competence in aerospace, IT and other high-tech industries and that she looks forward to greater cooperation in these areas. “Particularly in Asia but also around the world we need to create synergies through such collaboration and I am hopeful in this regard,” said the president. She added that there is a special relationship between Korea and India, as evident in the recently finalized Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

She said that India has strengths in basic sciences and software and that Korea is strong in traditional manufacturing, hardware and advanced industries such as smartphones. She added that the two trading partners have complementary economic structures and assets. “We have global competitive edges in these areas and should combine our strengths. We can also engage in joint research and development (R&D) as well, which would lead to win-win outcomes for both of us,” said the president.

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*Source: http://english.president.go.kr (Cheong Wa Dae Website)