India, South Korea to deepen cooperation on startups, tech transfer

Korea to hold contest to identify startups interested in establishing in each other's nation

India and South Korea on Thursday agreed to deepen cooperation among their small and medium enterprises through technology transfer, joint ventures, business alliances and facilitation of mutual market access.

Both countries also emphasised on providing support to each other's startups in accordance with their schemes and programmes.

The Korean side proposed to initiate cooperation with startup companies in India and the Republic of Korea. It proposed to hold a contest to identify startups interested in establishing themselves in each other's country.

The decisions were taken at the first Korea-India SME bilateral working group meeting, wherein the Korean delegation led by SME Minister of Small and Medium Business Administration Young-sup Joo met the Indian delegation, led by Union MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra.

The representatives of both the sides briefed about their respective policies for promotion and development of SMEs to have a better understanding of each others policies and identify areas of cooperation.

The parties agreed to implement technology transfers and business match-making through an establishment of a technology exchange centre. They also agreed to consider and plan policies aimed at providing support for research and development.

Both sides agreed to form a joint task force to prepare the action plan on this proposal discussed and timelines by the end of 2017. The two leaders agreed for NSIC from Indian side and Small Business Corporation from Korea to Collaborate in SME Cooperation.

It was agreed to hold biannual bilateral working Group meetings headed at an appropriate level to discuss and develop cooperation agenda. The outcome of these meetings can be discussed at Ministerial level (once in two years) in India and South Korea alternatively.