President Lee Myung-bak and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a bilateral summit in New Delhi on January 25 and agreed to elevate bilateral ties to a “strategic partnership” from the previous “long-term cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity” signed in 2004.
The leaders also agreed to open a vice ministerial-level dialogue between the two sides on foreign affairs and security issues and pledged to strengthen cooperation in the defense field.
The two leaders welcomed the ROK-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement which took effect on January 1 this year and set a goal to increase the amount of bilateral trade to US$30 billion by 2014. The increased trade volume is more than double that of the US$11.4 billion figure in 2009.
President Lee and Prime Minister Singh agreed on the importance of nuclear energy in dealing with energy security and climate change and discussed measures for expanding cooperation in the field of nuclear energy.
President Lee requested the Indian government's cooperation in helping Korean companies participate in future nuclear-power plant construction projects in India.
The two leaders agreed to closely cooperate for the success of the November G20 Summit in Seoul.
