1. At the Korea-India Summit held in Seoul on February 7, President Roh Moo-hyun and President Abdul 
Kalam agreed to begin negotiations on a Korea-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement 
(CEPA). The Heads of State were present as the official declaration was made at the signing of the "Joint 
Ministerial Statement on the Launch of a Joint Task Force to Develop a CEPA between the Republic of Korea 
and the Republic of India" by Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong and India's accompanying Minister for Rural 
Development R. P. Singh. 

※ CEPA stands for Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that 
covers a more comprehensive range than a simple FTA, extending from trade in goods and services to 
investment, economic cooperation, and other relevant areas. 

2. In the Joint Ministerial Statement, Minister Kim and Minister Singh reconfirmed the complementarities of 
the two economies and the huge potential that can be realized through a Korea-India CEPA, which would 
serve as an institutional framework to this end. The two ministers agreed to conclude a comprehensive and 
high-level CEPA by the end of 2007, for which a Joint Task Force (JTF) composed of government officials of 
both countries is to be launched and the first JTF meeting is scheduled to be held in New Delhi in March 
2006.

3. The launch of the Korea-India CEPA negotiations was declared on the basis of the recommendations of 
the India-Korea Joint Study Group (JSG). The JSG was established and composed of representatives from 
the business community, government and academia of both countries and held four official meetings during 
a one-year period from January 2005 to January 2006, as mandated by the leaders of the two countries on 
the occasion of President Roh's state visit to India in October 2004.

4.  In the case that the Korea-India CEPA is concluded, bilateral trade is expected to increase by US$ 3.3 
billlion, with a moderately expanded trade surplus in Korea's favor.  It is anticipated that the GDP of Korea 
will grow by KRW 1,300 billion with the creation of 47,600 jobs, when calculated on the basis of the 
economic data of 2004. In addition, the Korea-India CEPA will help Korean businesses to gain early access 
to the newly emerging huge market of India that has a population of 1.1 billion and the GDP of US$ 691.8 
billion in 2004.

5. It was also agreed that the official meetings for the CEPA negotiations will be held every two months in 
New Delhi and Seoul, alternately. The JTF will be headed by the Joint Secretary/Director General level 
officials of the two countries.

                                                        Spokesperson for MOFAT 

* unofficial translation