INDIA-KOREA - Asia-Pacific Business and Technology Report

cover story
INDIA-KOREA
Glorious Past Bright Future
to India in January 2010, was a landmark
event in our ties. Our bilateral engagement
received a further fillip with the visits of the
President of India to the ROK (Korea) in July
2011 and that of the Prime Minister of India
to Seoul between March 24th and 26th,
2012. The relationship is firmly anchored
in a commonality of mutual interests and
outlook. Ours is a problem-free and friendly
relationship. We do not have any strategic
differences. That can be said about very few
countries. We have similar outlooks, similar
interests and similar challenges.
That both countries are flourishing democracies
makes our relationship peopledriven.
There is complete consensus across
the political spectrum in India to have the
closest of relations with Korea, which is
being built on the foundation of a strategic
partnership. The Comprehensive Economic
Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was
operationalized on January 1st, 2010, and
this has become a template for many more
CEPAs that India has signed since, including
with Japan and Malaysia. In two years only,
there has been nearly a 70 percent increase
in trade between Korea and India. It crossed
US$20 billion in 2011. We have established
a new trade target of $40 billion by 2015
which is very achievable. Our two nations
would be witnessing a rapid growth in investments
in both directions. We are also
working on deepening cooperation in areas
like defense, security, energy, civil aviation,
space and science and technology.
There is a challenge of a trade deficit that
we are facing, and we are looking for better
access for our IT, pharmaceutical and
agricultural products. For instance, India
produces the best mangoes in the world.
We export them to the US, Japan, Europe,
and nearly everywhere else. But Koreans are
not getting Indian mangoes. Recently I told
this to the trade minister and he said that
the matter would be looked into on priority
(you should try an Indian mango when they
are available, and if you don’t like them I
will personally give you a refund!).
With IT products as well we are seeking
better access. But these are negotiations
between friends. Our commerce and trade
ministers meet every year, to review the
implementation of CEPA and examine the
need for upgrading. It is a process. Indian
pharmaceuticals are among the best in the
world today. We have the largest number
of pharmaceutical products registered with
the US FDA by any foreign country.
Indeed, ties are becoming truly multifaceted
between India and Korea. We are
now expanding these ties into security,
defense, and even education. Some 2,500
Korean children are studying English in India
right now. About half of them are in Indian
schools. About 900 Indian scholars are
studying science subjects and Korean in this
country. We also want to enhance S&T cooperation,
including in the sphere of space
technology. We have offered to launch Korean
satellites. We also have a cultural center
here in Korea now where we teach yoga,
classical Indian dance, Hindi language, and
so on.
Our two countries also cooperate very
well in international forums such as the
G20. India received excellent support from
Korea for its membership of the East Asian
Summit. Korea is an observer in SAARC. Korea
is also a key pillar of India’s Look East
policy. Such ties rest on a good foundation
and are poised to grow rapidly. There is an
information gap, though, which we still
need to plug. As someone who has had a
close relationship with the media, I know
that they have an important role to play
in informing and shaping public opinion.
When I presented my credentials to President
Lee Myung-bak, I said that both sides
have generated great expectations and that
we have to live up to them.
Let me close with a quotation from Newsweek
about India. “What is happening today
is the birth of India as an independent
society – boisterous, colourful, open, vibrant
and, above all, ready for change … it
is a noisy democracy that has finally empowered
its people economically … democracy
makes for populism, pandering and
delays. But it also makes for long-term stability.”
A-P
Adapted from extempore talk given at Kyung Hee University
on April 12, 2012.
* The author is the Ambassador of India to Korea.
Some aspects of the
Korean model are
worth emulating. The
country spends 9 percent
of its GDP on education.
Like in Korea a primacy
is given to education
in India. India’s first
Prime Minister said
that educational
institutions need to be
the new temples of India.
Following his ideals,
we have set up many
institutions of excellence
throughout the nation.
© pib.nic.in
The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and his
wife Smt. Gursharan Kaur being welcomed by the
children at the President House of South Korea,
in Seoul on March 25, 2012. The South Korean
President, Mr. Lee Myung-bak is also seen.
10
www.biztechreport.com