Noting that India and Korea's security, stability and prosperity are anchored in the Indo-Pacific, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, Mr.Joongyu Lee, said it is the time to articulate both nations shared concerns and calibrate strategy on security challenges facing the region.
Inaugurating the seminar on "India and Korea: New prospects for bilateral cooperation", organised by Observer Research Foundation in association with the Korean Embassy in Delhi on Thursday evening, Mr.Joongyu Lee emphasized that Asia-Pacific is one of the most dynamic and thriving regions in the world today and both Korea and India have the common interest of ensuring peace and stability in the region.
The ambassador said "while Korea-India relations have flourished over the years, we have not been able to evolve our respective roles in the rapidly changing security dynamics of the region to the level which is genuinely expected from strategic partners".
"I strongly believe that cooperation and accommodation than choosing sides should guide the actions of all the nations having stakes in the peace and stability of the region. We all have seen the futility of block politics during the protracted Cold War period," the Ambassador said.
He said the need of the hour is to put in place a comprehensive cooperative mechanism which swears by mutual accommodation. "The time has come for all regional stakeholders to work together to build a regional security architecture which is open, transparent and inclusive. The task is fairly cut out both Korea and India, given their strategic and economic significant in the region", he said.
"In a nutshell, in the changed scenario, the Korean and India interests converge significantly. Given the great complementarities in our foreign policy objectives, Korea-India strategic partnership is poised for a great leap forward," the Ambassador said.
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Saying that India-Korea trade, which stood at 17 billion US dollars last year, has great potential, the Ambassador said "the time is quite opportune to think big and take bold initiatives. Seoul has a government under the dynamic presidency of President Park Geun-hye who attaches great priority to relations with India and is determined to take bilateral relations to entirely new level".
According to some estimates, the trade potential is for 100 billion US dollars, the Ambassador said.
Chairing the conference, ORF Director Sunjoy Joshi stressed on India's imperative to learn from Korea's example in order to successfully meet its the socio-economic challenges.
Prof. Han Youngsup from the National Defense University in Korea said Korea-India Strategic Partnership must be developed in order to shape a larger role in Asia's regional security architecture and counter balance China's rising influence as a potential regional hegemony.
Dr. C. Raja Mohan, Head of ORF Strategic Affairs Programme, said as rising middle powers, both nations must take on a bigger role in Asia's evolving balance of power and regional integration trends.
The discussion on economic partnership was started by Lee Doowon from Yonsei University, Korea. He began with pointing out the fact that India's current standard of living is equivalent to that of Korea's in 1976, in terms of real GDP per capita, measured in terms of Purchasing Power Parity.
Although the growth trajectory and degree of openness in the comparative periods has been similar for both economies, there are large differences stemming from the nature of the political system and the role of the private sector. India has a long way to catch up to Korea's current level of development, but can learn important lessons especially in formulating optimal industrial policies and designing appropriate incentives for private sector investment.
Dr. Ashok Lahiri, former Chief Economic Adviser, agreed with Mr. Lee's analysis and pointed out that any bilateral relationship between India and Korea must be a win-win relationship. Korea must look for avenues, such as joint ventures with Indian companies, to increase cumulative investment in the Indian economy. At the same time, India should evaluate its comparative advantage in strategic sectors to boost total exports to Korea.