India, South Korea review economic agreement’s progress

Seoul, Sep 25 (IANS) India and South Korea have reviewed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) during the visit of Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu here, official sources said on Monday.

Prabhu visited South Korea from September 21-23 to participate in the 7th Asia-Europe Economic Ministers (ASEM) meeting and the 3rd Joint Ministerial Review of CEPA.

"The Minister for Trade of the Republic of Korea Hyun Chong Kim and Prabhu reviewed the progress of CEPA upgradation negotiations and also held extensive discussions on trade and economic corporation issues between the two countries," India's Commerce Ministry said in a statement.

Both Ministers affirmed that both countries should endeavour to finalise the CEPA upgradation negotiations at the earliest, within 2018 to the extent possible, it said.

"The Ministers agreed on the importance of cooperation in the field of standardisation and conformity assessment and developing mutual recognition agreements on arrangements for conformity assessment between the two countries," it added.

They agreed to establish a joint future strategy group to identify areas of high-end technological cooperation between the two countries, as a way to realise the vision of co-leadership in an era of Fourth Industries Revolution.

"The Ministers agreed to continue discussions at the working level, about the detailed mandate of the strategy group, with the aim of launching the group preferably within 2017," the statement said.

They commended the two countries' dedication to the expansion of power generation from renewable resources and agreed to cooperate to mutually support the national goal of renewable and reliable energy expansion.

"The Ministers agreed that, to attract foreign investment, it is critical to create pioneering success stories to nudge second movers and increase by a more diverse range of entrepreneurs. In this regard, both sides agreed to consider favourably the requests made in the Joint Committee meeting, with regard to investment cooperation of the two countries," it said.