Yoon, on the 50th Anniversary of Korea-India Diplomatic Relations, "Strengthening Special Strategic Partnership with Prime Minister Modi"

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President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 10th, marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and India, that he "looks forward to cooperating with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strengthen the special strategic partnership."

On the same day in the afternoon, President Yoon wrote on social media platform 'X (formerly Twitter)', "Celebrating 50 years of the remarkable friendship between Korea and India." He also added, "I support continuing this long-standing partnership in the future."

The two countries established diplomatic relations on December 10, 1973, marking the 50th anniversary on this day. In September, during the G20 summit, President Yoon held a summit meeting with Prime Minister Modi to discuss strengthening cooperation in defense, IT, and space sectors.

President Yoon Suk-yeol held a summit meeting with Prime Minister Modi during the G20 summit in September to discuss strengthening cooperation in defense, IT, and space sectors.

In particular, the two countries signed a basic agreement on the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) with a limit of 4 billion USD (approximately 5.35 trillion KRW) for 2023?2026. The EDCF basic agreement is a loan-related accord that specifies the support limits and conditions for recipient countries over a certain period (3?5 years). Through this, Korea's participation in India's infrastructure development projects, which are growing at an annual rate of over 7%, including smart cities, digital, and green projects, is expected to expand. The two leaders also agreed to establish and regularize cooperation channels at both government and private levels to actively promote Korea-India economic cooperation on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. At the government level, they plan to establish a Korea-India Industrial Cooperation Committee composed of ministerial-level officials, and at the private level, to create a private cooperation network between economic organizations of both countries centered around the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI).

At that time, President Yoon also expressed the need for meaningful progress in the CEPA improvement negotiations, which have been ongoing for eight years since negotiations began in 2015. India is also pursuing the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' (Self-Reliant India) policy, which has strengthened non-tariff import barriers, creating difficulties for Korean companies. First, President Yoon and Prime Minister Modi agreed to alleviate one of the biggest challenges for export companies?the burden of certificate of origin?by launching an 'Electronic Certificate of Origin Exchange System' by the end of the year and agreed on mutual cross-dispatch of trade delegations.

Since Prime Minister Modi's inauguration, India has succeeded with the Digital India policy, forming a vast digital market. President Yoon's plan is to maximize the potential of Korea-India ICT cooperation to facilitate the entry of Korean companies. With 1 billion smartphone users, digital technology is used in everyday life areas such as banking, delivery, and shopping, and India has built the world's third-largest startup ecosystem after the US and China, centered around approximately 110,000 startups including mobile gaming.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.