India-Korea CEOs Develop An Ambitious Agenda To Enhance Trade And Investment Between The Two Countries

The India-Korea CEOs Forum held its second meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday, with business leaders from both the nations developing an ambitious agenda to enhance bilateral trade and investment. The Indian side was led by Mr. Rashesh Shah, President,FICCI & Co-Chair from the Indian side, andMr. Yongmaan Park, Chairman, KCCI & Co-Chair from the Korean side.

The CEOs announced the formation of 6 working groups in sectors like Auto, Infrastructure, Services, Electronics (including renewable and allied sector) & IT and Start ups and Innovation Ecosystem (including MSMEs & SMEs) and Defense Manufacturing.

The CEOs on both sides look forward to the new era of development in the India-Korea relationship with President MOON Jae-in's maiden visit. There is a reaffirmation of the strategic partnership, and strong political will in New Delhi and Seoul to take the relationship to the next level. The CEOs reiterated that this forum would serve to enhance understanding and mutual trust in industrial, commercial and financial circles, promote, enlarge and deepen bilateral economic, trade and investment co-operation, further strengthen the new type of strategic partnership between Indian and Korean enterprises and reinforce the organizational coordination between Indian and Korean enterprises in regional co-operation.

The first India-Korea CEOs Forum was held in Seoul, South Korea on May 19, 2015, followed the long-standing strategic partnership between the two countries, which has over the years strengthened and expanded common interests in political, security, defence, economic, scientific & technological, IT, cultural and people-to-people relations.

The CEOs deliberated upon the progress on major recommendation from the first meeting in the field of energy, including renewable energy technologies, nuclear power and LNG ship building, by way of joint developments, technology transfer and enhanced bilateral trade and in the field of infrastructure with a view to benefit from technological and business expertise of Korean enterprises indeveloping quality infrastructure in Indiasuch as intelligent transportation systems, roads & highways, bridge & tunnels, railways, ports, and ship-building, amongst other infrastructure areas.

Given the huge impetus on manufacturing with 'Make in India' initiative of the Indian government, and Korea's manufacturing strengths, the CEOs recommended greater co-operation between the Korean and Indian enterprises. There are opportunities in developing manufacturing facilities in India for products where South Korea ranks amongst the leading producer countries, such as in the fields of consumer durables and electronics, storage, solar and e-mobility. In this regard, the CEOs welcomed the recent investments by Korean companies in automobiles, electronics, infrastructure projects, construction and textiles.

CEOs from both the sides highlighted some of these recent developments in Korean investments in India and welcomed the establishment of Kia's first manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh and Samsung's new manufacturing unit in Noida, Uttar Pradesh that was inaugurated by South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

The CEOs welcomed the signing of major MoUs between India and Republic of Korea including MoUs between Mahindra and Autogen in light weighing of automobiles; Bank of Baroda and KB Financial group Inc. for creating digital payment ecosystem.

Enhancing the co-operation in the Pharma sector, access to R&D innovations in both countries can be increased through Joint Workshops/Seminars or Lectures by Eminent Scientists and Joint R&D Projects of mutual interest between institutions or companies in both countries should be supported by grants. It was also suggested to arrange Indo-South Korea pharmaceutical (including Vaccines) forum which willhelp to build stronger and faster collaborations.

In the Renewable Energy sector, especially solar energy, the CEOs recommended collaboration between the Indian and Korean companies to set up manufacturing facilities in India and also committed to promote and work towardsjoint projects in the areas of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, future manufacturing, robotics and green tech.

The CEOs reaffirmed that India and South Korea want to grow together by complementing each other's strength and by joining hands. India has skills and South Korea has manufacturing experience. By merging these two qualities the two countries can enter markets in third countries.

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