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Address by EAM at Institute of
Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) on Strengthening India
ROK Strategic Partnership
Shri S.M. Krishna, Hon’ble External Affairs Minister
addressing
Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, Seoul.
June 18, 2010
18/06/2010
Chancellor Lee Soon-chun,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
I am delighted to be in Seoul on my first official visit as External
Affairs Minister of India. It is a privilege and honor to be able to
address such a distinguished gathering here at the Institute of
Foreign Affairs and National Security, the premier foreign policy
and strategic affairs institution of the Republic of Korea. I thank
you for providing me your august platform to share my views on how
India and Korea can move ahead in the coming years with a view to
strengthening our 'Strategic Partnership' for the 21st Century.
2. We in India viewed the visit of President Lee Myung-bak this past
January, when he was Chief Guest at our Republic Day celebrations,
as a major milestone in our bilateral relations. It signaled a
coming of age of the India – Korea relationship. Forged in the
crucibles of civilization when a Princess from Ayodhya traveled to
Korea to marry King Suro, through the poems of India's poet laureate
Rabindranath Tagore who described your country as the 'Lamp of the
East', and to India’s Chairmanship of the Election Commission that
held the first ever elections on the Korean Peninsula, both our
countries were well aware of the other. However, it required our
recently expanding economic ties and the astute leadership of
President Lee and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to elevate our
relationship to that of a 'Strategic Partnership'.
3. Ladies and Gentlemen, my own visit to Seoul is aimed at
consolidating and expanding our ever closer ties. In the hours gone
by, I have been able to call on President Lee and hold wide-ranging,
intense and fruitful discussions with my counterpart Foreign
Minister Yu Myung-hwan. I am scheduled to meet Defense Minister Kim
Tae-young later this afternoon. Foreign Minister Yu and I co-chaired
the 6th meeting of the India – ROK Joint Commission where we agreed
on several steps and measures to impart greater momentum to our
relations. From this podium I wish to convey my ideas, on the road
ahead, to a wider segment of the Korean population, particularly to
you its intellectuals and opinion-makers.
4. India embarked on what we term our 'Look East' policy in 1992. In
the eighteen years since, we have increasingly become an East Asian
nation. The proportion of our trade with and investment from East
and South East Asia has risen dramatically. We are not merely a
Summit Partner of ASEAN, but are integral to the economic and
strategic processes underway in this part of the world. We actively
participate in the ASEAN Regional Forum or ARF and are founder
members of the East Asia Summit. Our Trade in Goods Agreement with
ASEAN has been implemented since January this year and we are making
steady progress in our negotiations on an agreement on Trade in
Services. Similarly, we are moving ahead in our discussions with
Japan on an Economic Partnership Agreement. Meanwhile, China has
emerged as one of our largest trading partners. It is an India
moored in East Asia through an ever enlarging web of relations with
this most dynamic part of the world, which seeks to build an even
stronger partnership with the Republic of Korea. I would like to
propose a 6-step strategy to accomplish this goal.
5. First, we should consolidate and strengthen our political
partnership through high level exchanges. President Lee's State
Visit to India this January has been quickly followed up by the
meeting of the India – Korea Foreign Policy and Security Dialogue in
early April, the first time this forum has been held at Vice Foreign
Minister or Secretary level. This set the stage not merely for my
own visit but also an expansion in our cooperation on several
regional and global issues. Many of you would have noted the
sympathetic reaction of India to the investigation report on the
sinking of the Korean naval corvette 'Cheonan'. We condemn the
incident and condole with the ROK in the loss of life. India
appreciates the maturity and restraint with which the ROK is
handling the situation with a view to maintaining peace and
stability in the region. At the same time in order to meet the new
challenges that international shipping is facing from non-State
actors especially in the Gulf of Aden, we believe it is time for our
two countries to expand our naval cooperation. Perhaps, we can do so
by holding the next joint exercise between our Coast Guards at an
early date. Also, we must contemplate greater cooperation and
coordination in anti-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean in which
both our Navies are very closely involved.
6. Later this year, my colleague the Defence Minister of India will
visit your great nation. I am confident that his visit will provide
a boost to our security cooperation including in the sphere of
defence research and development. This will bring our countries
closer together. In my own discussions with your leadership, I have
suggested that India and Korea look beyond a buyer-seller defence
relationship to one where we envisage co-production, joint ventures
and the transfer of technology. We suggested a few specific ideas in
the recent meeting of our bilateral Joint Defence Industry and
Logistics Committee. We need to move further and we need to do so
faster.
7. High level visits are integral to moving our partnership onto a
higher growth trajectory. On our part, we will ensure continuity,
and will not be found wanting. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh
will of course be in Seoul this November when you host the G-20
Summit.
8. Second, we must continue to expand, diversify and deepen our
burgeoning economic ties. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have reached the
current juncture in our bilateral relations due to the rapidly
expanding Indian economy and the fact that Korean businesses were
quick off the starting block in recognizing the tremendous
opportunities in India. While our GDP grew at an average annual rate
of about 9% in the four years prior to the global economic and
financial crisis, we have been able to weather this international
storm reasonably well. In fiscal 2008, our GDP growth rate fell to
6.7%, but in fiscal 2009 we were able to manage 7.4% growth and our
economy is forecast to expand by 8.5% this year. Our banking sector
has remained relatively immune from the global malaise due to our
strict regulatory framework and our stock market has rebounded
strongly after an initial hiccup. Therefore, my friends, the outlook
for the Indian economy continues to be positive and Korean industry
can look to India for growth and profits. The experience of Hyundai
Motors is a case in point. Hyundai which has one factory near
Chennai manufacturing 300,000 cars, recently decided to establish
yet another unit in southern India with a similar output catering
mainly for exports to the Gulf and east Europe. We are confident
that the leadership provided by Hyundai Motors where it has made
India a hub for global production and exports will be followed not
merely by other Korean companies but also by firms from across East
and South East Asia. The Hyundai business model will serve both
India as well as South Korea well.
9. We continue to remain cognizant of the fact that foreign direct
investment is extremely competitive in nature. We do not intend to
sit back on our laurels and hope to continue enjoying the fruits of
past endeavours. We are very sensitive to the necessity of
continually improving the investment environment in India. To this
end, we are upgrading our infrastructure in terms of roads and
highways, ports and airports, railways and shipping. India is
spending billions of dollars in this effort, which in itself
constitutes a huge business opportunity being leveraged by many
companies from Asia including Malaysia and the Philippines, Japan
and China, Korea and Taiwan.
10. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement or CEPA that we
have implemented since January 1, 2010 is proving to be a multiplier
in our economic relationship. During the first four months of the
year our two-way trade jumped 70% over the same period of the
previous year and is expected to catch further steam in the coming
months. If this is an indicator of things to come, we can rest
assured that the bilateral trade goal of 30 billion US Dollars that
we set for ourselves this January will be met before the target date
of 2014. However, I believe that we must take stock of the
functioning of our CEPA a little later this year after allowing
sufficient time since its implementation.
11. Friends, our economic engagement goes well beyond trade in goods
and investment. As you are aware, India has a competitive advantage
in the service sector especially IT and IT enabled services. Most of
India's major IT software companies all have offices in Korea but
are looking for opportunities to exhibit the kind of work they are
capable of and for which they have become famous in the West. We are
sure that Korean firms and public sector institutions will provide
them with the opening they seek. This will be a win-win situation
for all, as our IT firms will ensure lower costs for Korean
companies, which in turn will benefit consumers and lead to
employment growth. India is also very competitive in financial and
management services. Entry of Indian entities will benefit the
Korean economy.
12. Third, we must forge new Science and Technology links between
us. One of the major outcomes of President Lee's visit to India was
the announcement of the establishment of a Joint Fund of 10 million
US Dollars with equal contribution from both sides to sponsor joint
research between our scientists. In the meeting of the Joint
Commission earlier today, Foreign Minister Yu and I discussed ways
of operationalizing this Fund at an early date. This will enable our
technologists to work on new products as well as process innovations
which will also benefit industry. The areas visualized for joint
research include high energy physics, nanotechnology, new materials,
robotics and engineering sciences, information and communication
technology and biotechnology. We look forward to your Minister for
Education, Science and Technology visiting us in India later this
year in order to move this initiative forward. I for one, am sure we
will reap rich rewards from this great idea.
13. The MOU we concluded earlier this year for cooperation between
our space agencies can have positive spin-offs for both our
countries and our economies. In 1999, a Korean satellite KITSAT III
was launched by India. We look forward to working with ROK in
fabrication of satellites as also in helping you launch more Korean
satellites on Indian launch vehicles. Our launch services are of
very high quality and our costs are extremely competitive. Perhaps,
the ROK can think in terms of participating in experiments on our
next Moon orbiter Chandrayaan II. The sky, literally, is the only
limit to such scientific collaboration between India and Korea.
14. Fourth, as major importers of our respective energy
requirements, India and Korea should work closely together to meet
our mutual energy security needs. Both our countries are major
importers of oil and gas. India has suggested the establishment of
an India – ROK Joint Working Group on Hydrocarbons to learn from
each other's experience in this field. Perhaps, Indian and Korean
companies could jointly prospect and explore for oil and gas in
third countries. Each of us has ample experience of doing so on our
own. Would we not be able to harness the synergies of doing so
together, for the common benefit of the Indian and Korean people?
ONGC Videsh Ltd. of India and Korea National Oil Corporation have
contemplated such possibilities but still need to put theory into
practice. Another possible area of cooperation where India will gain
from Korean experience is the field of energy efficiency. A recent
delegation from India to Korea studied how your companies minimize
transmission and distribution losses and has suggested that we
establish a Joint Group on Power and Energy Efficiency with both
public and private participation.
15. We in India are well aware of Korean capabilities in the area of
civil nuclear energy. We watched with admiration when KEPCO won an
international contract through competitive bidding in the United
Arab Emirates earlier this year. During the visit of President Lee
to India, our leaders recognized that nuclear energy is clean,
reliable and environmentally friendly. We therefore agreed to move
towards a framework for cooperation in this very important field. I
am happy to report to you that we have made rapid progress. Our two
countries will soon commence negotiations on an Agreement for the
Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. This is an area of some importance
for India as we search for a more rational energy mix in our
economic development strategy. The continued growth of the Indian
economy will need to be increasingly powered by new and renewable
energy sources, including nuclear energy, which are non-polluting
and contribute to international efforts to control climate change.
In this quest, we have successfully sought international cooperation
with the approval of the member nations of the Nuclear Suppliers
Group. We look forward to deepening our cooperation with the
Republic of Korea in civil nuclear energy.
16. Fifth, we must strengthen cultural exchanges between our
countries. In this context, we welcome the decision of your
Government to establish a Korean Cultural Center in New Delhi. It
will help bring the best from the culture and the arts of Korea to
the people of India. With a similar aim in mind we have decided to
have a 'Year of India in Korea' and a corresponding 'Year of Korea
in India' in 2011. This will enable the Indian people understand
Korea, its culture and history, while providing the Korean people a
glimpse of Indian performing arts, exhibitions, film and literature.
Earlier today, we signed an MOU between the Indian Council for
Cultural Relations and the Korea Foundation, which will help sustain
the momentum of cultural exchanges beyond 2011.
17. I proposed yesterday to President Lee and earlier today to
Foreign Minister Yu that India would like to install a bust of our
national poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore at an appropriate
location in Seoul. Next year is the 150th birth anniversary of
Tagore and given his popularity in Korea it would be apt to unveil
his bust on a street corner or in a verdant park in Seoul. We will,
of course, be guided by the Korean authorities in this matter.
18. Finally, we need to work together to expand people-to-people
exchanges between our nations. The bedrock of relations between any
two countries is the relationship between its citizens. While India
and Korea share values including democracy, rule of law and respect
for human freedoms, we need greater exchanges between our peoples to
be able to sustain our Strategic Partnership. We need to strive for
greater tourism between our countries which in turn requires better
air services between us. Indian air companies have been requesting
fifth freedom rights to fly to points beyond Korea for which we need
to amend our Air Services Agreement. I have suggested to Foreign
Minister Yu that we task our officials to have an early meeting on
this issue.
19. We can also work together towards greater student exchanges
between us. There are large numbers of Indian students who travel
abroad to study each year and there is no reason why some of them
cannot be convinced to come and study in Korea. Similarly, we hope
to be able to attract to India some of the Korean students who go
overseas for higher studies. Such students eventually become a
bridge between the two countries and cultures once they have
completed their courses and returned to their country of origin.
20. I am extremely happy to know that IFANS itself has contributed
in no small measure to our bilateral exchanges by entering into an
agreement earlier today with the Indian Council for World Affairs or
ICWA which provides for more academic interaction through study
tours, conferences, seminars and workshops.
21. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have attempted to spell out what we in
India visualize as a road-map for strengthening the India – Korea
partnership in the coming years. How successfully we move down this
road will define our relationship in the years to come. I am
confident that both our countries have the sagacious leadership and
the political confidence to grasp the opportunity and follow the
path I have just described. By doing so, we will strengthen the
India – Korea Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century.
22. I thank you for your attention.
Seoul
June 18, 2010 |
