India, S.Korea for strengthening cooperation in science and technology sector

India and South Korea on Thursday highlighted the importance of strengthening cooperation in the field of science and technology.

In the joint statement issued after summit-level talks between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here, the two sides agreed to create an additional joint fund of 10 million USD (with a contribution of 5 million USD by each side) to promote mega projects, which will be conducted jointly by the industries, academia and institutes.

It may be recalled that a Science and Technology Cooperation Fund of 10 million USD, contributed for the period 2011-2015, has been utilized to implement joint research projects in the science and technology sector.

The projects will focus on research leading to application and techno-commercialization.

Both India and South Korea welcomed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Science and Technology Of India and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning of the Republic of Korea on a Joint Applied Research and Development Programme in Science and Technology.

The two leaders further agreed to strengthen cooperation in the information technology sector, which is a foundation for implementing a creative economy.

They also agreed to establish the India-ROK ICT Policy Forum, and to hold the first Forum in 2014, in which cooperation on software and information security will be discussed.

Both leaders welcomed the signing of the Implementing Agreement Between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute for Cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated the Indian offer of launching Republic of Korea (ROK) satellites on Indian Satellite Launch Vehicles on a commercial basis.

Referring to the Agreement between the India and the Republic of Korea for cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the two leaders agreed to hold regular exchanges to expand cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector.