India, Korea to boost trade

In a bid to boost their bilateral ties, India and South Korea on Wednesday decided to step up efforts to take their economic partnership to a higher level by utilising synergies in trade, investment and hi-tech areas.

During a 45-minute meeting in Seoul, visiting External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and his Korean counterpart Ban Ki-Moon also had detailed exchange of views on the situation in the Korean peninsula, including the North Korean nuclear issue.

UN reforms covering restructuring of the Security Council also figured during the discussions, Indian officials said. Seoul has been in favour of a broad consensus on the issue of expansion of the Security Council.

It acknowledges India's growing stature and increasing role in international affairs. During the discussions, both sides hoped that negotiations for the $12bn integrated steel plant to be set up by Korean company Posco at Paradip in Orissa would be concluded at an early date.

Negotiations for the mega project are at an advanced stage, the officials said, adding this would be the largest single foreign investment by any country in India.

Singh is on a day's stopover here enroute to the Russian far-eastern port city of Vladivostok to attend the first-ever stand-alone meeting of foreign ministers of India, Russia and China.

He was accompanied by India's Ambassador P S Ray and Ashok Kantha, joint secretary in the external affairs ministry.

Ban will visit India in early August this year for the annual meeting of the India-Korea Joint Commission when the two sides will review all aspects of bilateral relations covering economic, political and security cooperation.