Jaitley signs two financial agreements in Seoul.
South Korea became one of the first non-G-7 countries to become an Official Development Assistance (ODA) contributor in India by signing a US$1 billion funding for infrastructure development along with US$9 billion in concessional credit.
The two agreements were signed in Seoul on 14 June 2017 on arrival of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Part of the fund will be for the Smart City projects in India and good infrastructure projects in India.
The South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and the Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon emphasized the importance that the new Korea Government attaches to the development of the special strategic partnership with India.
The two Ministers reviewed the international economic situation, and India-Korea bilateral economic ties in that context.
The ministers agreed that in the face of uncertainty and the risk of rising protectionism, there was an urgent need for the two countries to increase efforts to stimulate investment flows, support for infrastructure development, and bilateral trade among others.
As the world’s fastest growing large economy, India offers Korea important opportunities to deploy its capital and technologies in India, and for India, South Korea’s interest in finding new openings to diversify its economic partnerships offers India great opportunities.
Jaitley and the Korean Defense Minister, Gen. HAN Min-koo discussed the rapidly growing bilateral defence partnership.
With the earlier signing of an Inter-Governmental Agreement on Strategic Partnership in Defence Production, and the finalization of a Make-in-India Project to manufacture 155mm Self-Propelled Artillery Guns in India, the two Ministers expressed satisfaction at the rapid growth of ties since the last meeting of Defence Ministers in April 2015.
They also welcomed the progress in building ties in Defence Education and looked forward to the expansion of this relationship through Policy Dialogue (a 2+2 dialogue) and through service-to-service ties.
Jaitley is on a four-day visit, starting 14 June 2017. fii-news.com
