S Korea, India set stage for CEPA

Lending greater substance to relations, India and South Korea today signed three separate agreements, including one that set the stage for launch of negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) encompassing trade in goods and services and investment.

The two countries inked an agreement on science and technology envisaging exchange of scientists and technologists and joint research and harmonisation of customs procedures to facilitate trade and crackdown on economic crimes.

India and South Korea also decided to hold their second round of talks on security and foreign policy in the second quarter of this year.

The signing of the accords capped 15 minutes of one-to-one talks between visiting President A P J Abdul Kalam and his South Korean counterpart Roh Moo-Hyun Followed by half-an-hour delegation-level discussions.

The announcement of the launch of negotiations and constitution of a joint task force for framing CEPA, the first of its kind agreement India is going to sign with a country belonging to a select group of 30 economically developed nations, was mentioned in a joint ministerial statement signed by Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Korean Trade Minister Hyun Chong Kim.

The task force, which has 66 members each from both the sides, will submit its report next year.

Seeking to give shape to President A P J Abdul Kalam's idea of creating a world knowledge platform through information technology, the two countries also agreed to hold ministerial-level dialogue on the issue and expressed willingness to provide funds for it.

Kalam, who had been articulating the idea of a world knowledge platform during his tour of Singapore, the Philippines and South Korea, today broached the subject with his Korean counterpart Roh Moo-Hyun, who responded enthusiastically, describing it as an "insightful and wonderful" proposal.

"The president's idea of world knowledge found a great resonance in South Korea," External Affairs Ministry Secretary Rajiv Sikri told reporters here. He said Indian Communications and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran had been invited to South Korea to discuss the world knowledge platform idea among other things.

The world knowledge platform could begin by involving some countries and later encompass many other countries, Sikri said. The two sides agreed to hold a working-level dialogue on the issue and were willing to contribute funds for the exercise, he said.

The idea of a world knowledge platform would also be taken up at the next East Asian summit in Cebu, the Philippines, in December this year where India will be present.

Kalam, during his talks with Roh, emphasised that India, as a software leader, and South Korea, having expertise in hardware, should together work with the help of their competencies to come out with knowledge products. This is the second time that a favourite idea of Kalam's has caught the imagination abroad.

Earlier this week, the Philippines agreed to set up two PURA (providing urban amenities in rural areas), another pet project of the president, at two of its villages.