The government hosted a South Korea-India economic cooperation conference Friday to explore ways to expand cooperation between the two countries in advanced industries, such as artificial intelligence and supply chains, the industry ministry said.
The conference, organized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, brought together some 200 government and business officials from the two sides, including Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo, Indian Ambassador to Korea Gourangalal Das and Shri Rajat Kumar Saini, chief executive officer of the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation of India.
In the conference, Korea's major trade promotion agencies and research institutes called for deeper cooperation between Seoul and New Delhi in strategic industries, such as AI, space and advanced industries, where the two countries have complementary areas of strength, according to the ministry.
"Amid the rapidly changing global trade environment, economic cooperation with India, a key partner country for Korea under its new southern policy and a leader of the global south, is more important than ever," Yeo said in his opening remarks for the event.
Yeo said Korea and India have significant potential to boost bilateral trade as the yearly trade volume between the two countries remains at around $25 billion, while Korea's trade volume with the 11 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose combined gross domestic product is similar to that of India, is at around $200 billion.
Korea plans to expand its partnership with India into various areas, including AI, digital economy, supply chains, green energy and manufacturing, he added, vowing efforts to improve the comprehensive economic partnership agreement between the two countries and create a more favorable environment for trade cooperation. (Yonhap)
