Mr. Onkar Kanwar,
President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
Hon’ble
Secretaries of Indian Government,
H.E. Ambassadors
and Diplomats,
Representatives of
Korean Business Community in New Delhi,
Distinguished
Members of the FICCI and
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
First of all,
allow me Mr. President to express my gratitude to you for your warm welcome and
for hosting today’s meeting.
It gives me a
great pleasure to address this distinguished gathering of businessmen and
industrialists on the theme of present and future relations between Korea and India.
There are few
memories that stand out in one’s life. I am overwhelmed with a sense of
nostalgia when I remember my first career posting as Vice Consul in the
Consulate General in New Delhi in 1972. Memories of my time as a young
diplomat sitting in his office, holding a globe and turning it upside down are
still fresh in my mind. My tenure in India was both rewarding and fulfilling. I
recall with great satisfaction that during my assignment here, a milestone was
achieved when the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1973 after 11
years of consular relations. Since then much water has flown down the Ganges. Korea-India relations have grown from strength to
strength and reached the level of strategic partnership.
My personal as
well as official ties with your country have always led me to place great
importance on Korea-India relations. It is less than a year when I visited this
great country at the occasion of the State Visit of His Excellency Roh
Moo-hyun, President of the Republic of Korea. I
recall with emotion my stay and meetings in this very conference room.
President Roh’s
visit was indeed a landmark event for greater cooperation and partnership
between our two countries in the 21st century. During the visit, the President
and H.E. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh declared a new era of a ‘Long Term
Cooperative Partnership for Peace and Prosperity between Korea and India’.
President Roh’s
visit to India has provided us with a blueprint to
further expand our cooperation across a whole spectrum of areas ranging from
trade and economy to security and culture. It is important therefore for our
two countries to continue to build upon the agreements and understandings reached
during the State Visit and subsequent high-level meetings.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Today, India, one of the four cradles of ancient human
civilization, has become a cynosure of the world. As the world's largest
democracy, India has achieved a remarkable economic growth
with an average rate of over six percent for the past 10 years and ranked
twelfth in global GDP last year.
A great power
status, a role that India has long aspired for, seems within its reach as it is
well on its way to emerge as the third largest economy of the world in the
decades ahead. In view of these astounding developments, India will surely be able to exercise greater
influence and share larger responsibility in regional and global affairs. 21st
Century will certainly be India’s century as envisioned by Indian Prime
Minister, H.E. Dr. Manmohan Singh.
Korea, once
described as a ‘Torch of the Orient’ by the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore,
presently enjoys a reputation of being one of the world's leading producer of
automobiles, ships, steel, IT, and electronics. Korea is also witnessing continuous progressive
innovations in all social fields. Such advances demonstrate that Korea has transformed into a very dynamic
nation, adjusting well to the changes in the world and even spearheading
advancement in a number of areas.
At first glance, India and Korea seem to have little in common. But a
closer look reveals that our two countries share many similarities. Both
countries adhere to the universal value of democracy and market economy. The
light of Buddhism illumined the history of both countries. Both countries and
people broke the shackles of colonialism and we both celebrate our Independence
Day on 15th of August.
Though contacts
and exchanges between Korea and India date back to ancient times, the frequency
has steadily expanded in a wide range of areas after the establishment of
Korea-India diplomatic ties in 1973.
Since the mid 1990s, the foray of Korean companies into Indian markets
has accelerated, further invigorating bilateral exchanges. President Roh’s
visit last October was indeed a milestone in the history of high-level exchange
between our two countries.
March towards
globalization and emergence of regionalism have opened new vistas for
Korea-India cooperation. To keep pace with the spread of
globalization and regionalism at the start of the 21st century, Korea and India have been actively cooperating with each
other on both global and regional levels.
India's ‘Look East’ policy has greatly
contributed to strengthening its partnership with Asian countries, including Korea. I am pleased to say that Korea wholeheartedly welcomes India as a member of the ‘First East Asia Summit’ to be held in Kuala Lumpur in December this year.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Economic relations
have been the driving force in the development of our bilateral relations, and
no doubt, this trend will continue in the future. Trade volume between the two
countries, which stood at less than 1 billion US$ in 1991, increased to 5.5
billion US$ in 2004. Despite this remarkable achievement, India ranks still the 19th as a trading partner
to Korea while Korea ranks the 12th to India.
Given the size and
complementarities of our two economies, we should work harder to further expand
our trade volume. I am confident that by
2008 we will have achieved the target of 10 billion US$ for bilateral trade
volume set by the leaders of our two countries.
Korea has stolen a march over others in
promoting investment in India. Korean investment in India has increased gradually since the mid
1990s and has reached 1.4 billion US$ by May 2005, according to Korean
government statistics. Korea has become one of the largest investor in India with some 200 companies doing business in
the subcontinent. Korean companies like LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics and
Hyundai Motors are household names in India and their products are ‘Kahani
Ghar-Ghar Ki’.
Unlike others,
Korean companies have greater faith and confidence in potentials and
fundamentals of Indian economy and they are ready to invest in India in a big way. Recently
Global steel giant POSCO, the world's fifth largest steelmaker, signed an MOU
on June 22 with the state of Orissa for a 12 billion US$ investment in steel plant project. This is
both the largest outward foreign investment for Korea and the largest inward foreign investment
for India. POSCO's investment bears testimony to the fact that Korea perceives India as an important partner.
Most importantly,
there are a number of other Korean entrepreneurs who are exploring ways to
investment in India. In this regard, I look forward to FICCI
to play more active role in promoting trade and investment relations between
our two countries.
On the other hand,
we hope that Indian companies will also increase their investment in Korea. The TATA group's acquisition of Daewoo
Commercial Vehicle Co. last year was a good start. I advise you to regard Korea
as a base for venturing into the Northeast Asian market in the same manner as
Korean companies consider India to be central in their entry into the South
Asian region. As a hub of East Asia, Korea has excellent infrastructure such as
outstanding world-class international airports and large capacity ports.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Undoubtedly, Korea and India have made great strides in economic
relations. However, it is still modest. We can augment the vast potential that
exists between the two countries from their complementary trade and industrial
structures to analogous economic reform policies. One of the most effective ways
to tap the potentials is to speed up efforts to establish institutional
frameworks such as relevant laws, systems and consultation channels between the
two governments.
We have
established a Joint Study Group with an aim to examine the feasibility of Comprehensive
Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Two rounds of meetings were held as
scheduled and another two rounds will be held soon to conclude its report to
the leaders of our two countries. I highly appreciate the hard works of
delegations from both sides to achieve progress to this effect. I firmly
believe that we will eventually reach an agreement which delves much deeper
than a simple FTA and one that goes beyond ordinary regional economic
integration.
Needless to say,
we also attach great importance to promoting cooperative mechanism between
private sectors. To facilitate more active business cooperation, it is
imperative that our two countries intensify economic and commercial exchange on
a regular basis such as dispatching business delegations, holding investment
seminars, one-to-one business meetings and trade fairs, etc.
In this context, I
sincerely hope that the Korea-India Joint Business Council established in 1977
between the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and the Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), will endeavor to strengthen
the grounds for more dynamic collaboration and strong partnership on a larger
spectrum of private enterprise.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Korea- India
relations are not solely confined to trade and investment relations. In recent
years, our two countries have put great emphasis on political and strategic
relations. Both governments are earnestly promoting the exchange of visits in
all areas. We aim to reinforce the
Foreign Policy and Security Dialogue, cooperation in the defence field and
engage in more frequent consultations on regional and global issues.
In the field of
culture, Korea and India have also made modest achievements. As the
economic ties between our two countries are becoming stronger, human
interchanges including cultural events, academic seminars, travel and youth
exchanges are also increasing rapidly. The well-being health trend in Korea has fueled our interest in the deep-rooted
culture of India and yoga. There has been a tremendous
mutual increase of interests in each other’s culture. 18 local governments of Korea have established, or, are seeking to
establish sisterhood ties with local governments of India. 50 thousand or more Koreans are expected
to visit India this year, up from last year's 32
thousand.
We welcome Air India’s recently launched service to Korea. Furthermore, I expect Korea may serve as a far reaching gateway for
Indians to American continents, while India may become a route for Koreans to link
their business networks to Middle East
and Europe.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Let me briefly
touch upon important developments surrounding the Korean Peninsula, which have direct implications for peace
and stability in the region. My
government has been engaging in earnest efforts to transform relations with North Korea from the old binds of Cold War
confrontation to a new formula of mutual trust and practical cooperation.
Over the last two
and a half years, in spite of ups and downs in relations with Pyongyang, we
have achieved a great deal of meaningful progress in various fields. After a 10
month hiatus, both sides resumed senior-level official talks. The inter-Korean
Ministerial Meeting in June and the subsequent Economic Cooperation Promotion
Committee Meeting served as useful opportunities to expand overall relations.
Last week, I held
a meeting with the North Korean Foreign Minister in Laos on the sidelines of the Asian Regional
Forum meeting. It was the 2nd
inter-Korean Foreign Ministers' encounter since I had met with him last year.
We agreed to intensify our efforts to solve the nuclear issue as well as to
promote our cooperation in the diplomatic arena.
I believe that
closer inter-Korean cooperation and exchanges are now entering an irreversible
stage. It is my sincere hope that increased interaction between the two Koreas will eventually lead North Korea to the path of fundamental reforms.
With regard to the
North Korean nuclear issue, I am very pleased to see that the Six-Party Talks
have resumed in Beijing after a 13 month long interval. The Korean government
has played an important part in not only resuming the talks but also making
substantial progress for the resolution of the nuclear issue.
It is in this
context that the Korean government has made a proposal to provide North Korea with electricity amounting to 2,000 MWe
per annum on the condition that Pyongyang dismantles its nuclear weapons and related
programs.
The Korean
government, in closer cooperation with the countries concerned, will continue
to consolidate a stable and secure environment on the Korean Peninsula, to ensure that the economic and business
activities of both foreigners and Koreans are not disrupted.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
With the joint
efforts of the governments and corporations of both countries, we may be able
to realize the boundless potential for mutually beneficial cooperation between
our countries.
In the end, I
would like to say that our two countries have only commonalities and no
discords. We are endowed with all necessary conditions to further strengthen
our relations. So, let us work together in the spirit of new partnership to
realize promises that the future holds for our bilateral relations. I know I
can count on the support of the Indian people to build further on this
time-tested friendship.
Before closing,
let me express once again my appreciation to FICCI for its meticulous
arrangement of today’s meeting. I wish continued success to the members of
FICCI and all of you present here.
I would like to
conclude with a few lines which India’s renowned economist and former Governor
of Reserve Bank of India, Mr. Bimal Jalan, has written in his recently released
book ‘The Future of India’ (I quote) “there is no doubt whatsoever that if the
men and women of India have the determination to realize the country’s vast
potential, India’s economy can become one of the strongest in the world in the
not-too-distant future. Whether we have the necessary ‘will’ is the real
question.” (End of quotation) Today, I
witnessed that this will and determination does exist among the Indian people.
Dhan-yah- Vaadh
Thank you.
/END/
