South Korean President Park Geun -hye will arrive here on Wednesday on a four-day visit and will hold extensive talks with Indian leadership here with India making it clear that the trade deficit and market access would be among the issues which will be flagged.
Park's visit also comes barely days after Korean firm Posco's nearly USD 8.4 billion (Rs 520 billion) steel plant in Odisha got a nod from the Environmental Ministry, paving the way for its going ahead with operations.
The South Korean President, who will be accompanied by senior ministers for foreign affairs, trade and science, will hold extensive talks with leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, here.
While the two sides are working on some pacts to be inked during the visit, Joint Secretary incharge of the division in the External Affairs Ministry Gautam Bambawale said issues like trade deficit and more access for Indian firms in the competitive areas of IT and pharma among other issues on economic front will be raised with the Korean side.
On Posco's project, Bambawale noted that with the environmental nod for next five years and the 2,700 acres land acquisition by the state government in place, "we can now move forward with the project in the coming weeks...And hope Posco India will commence with the project very, very soon."
However, he said instead of 12 million tonnes per annum steel production, which was originally proposed, Posco would now go ahead with a 8 MTPA steel plant for which the land had been acquired. The project, inked in 2005, was held up due to protests by local villagers over environmental concerns.
Asked about the status of civil nuclear cooperation pact which was inked in 2011, Bambawale said his understanding was that though South Korea was very interested to move forward, Department of Atomic Energy was keen to first consolidate the existing deals and projects.
Referring to defence cooperation between the two countries, he said they are engaged in wide-ranging talks, as also in other spheres like anti-piracy actions in the Gulf of Aden apart from carrying out joint naval exercises.
