India and South Korea signed 11 agreements on Tuesday to expand business ties and more than double mutual trade to $50 billion by 2030, a day after the premiers of the two countries launched a Samsung mobile phone factory near Delhi.
Major South Korean companies including Samsung and Hyundai Motor Co are household names across India, one of the world's fastest growing markets, and visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he hoped that smaller companies from his country could replicate that success.
Bilateral trade between the world's seventh and 11th largest economies rose by nearly a quarter to $20.8 billion in the 2017/18 fiscal year that ended in March, with $16.4 billion of that in favour of South Korea.
The agreements signed between the countries included accelerating negotiations to upgrade a 'comprehensive economic partnership agreement' signed in 2009, as well as expand cooperation in railways, healthcare, telecommunications and cyber security.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India was a stakeholder in the Korean peace process. He credited Moon for South Korea's peace breakthrough with North Korea and offered India's support in taking that forward. (Reuters)
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