Seoul: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Wednesday held talks with his South Korean counterpart Cho Hyun, focusing on bilateral cooperation and the rapidly changing global situation, the leaders said.
Jaishankar is currently in South Korea on a two-day visit — the second leg of an ongoing foreign tour — after having visited Mongolia.
It is a great pleasure to be back in Seoul and to meet you and your team today for our discussions, Jaishankar said in his opening remarks, noting that the meeting was timely, given the state of the world and the importance of the bilateral relationship.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s visit to India in April and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Lee at the G7 in Evian, France last week, have provided guidance on how to advance the bilateral ties, Jaishankar said.
The talks focused on follow-up measures in the key areas of trade, investment and finance.
As foreign ministers, it is clearly our responsibility to take this relationship forward, to oversee what different parts of the government and different parts of our economy of our country do with each other in their interaction, Jaishankar added.
Jaishankar said India was fully committed to realising the potential of the bilateral relationship, which both sides acknowledged had significant room for growth.
After the meeting, the external affairs minister in a social media post said We reviewed our cooperation across political, shipbuilding, trade, investments, defence, technology, clean energy, culture and P2P (people-to-people) domains.
Jaishankar also said the two of them discussed opportunities in areas like startups, fintech and multilateral forums, and exchanged views on developments in their respective regions and around the world.
The discussions, held in Seoul, continued through lunch and went on for around three hours.
Cho said President Lee’s visit to India in April marked a turning point for elevating Korea-India relations to a new dimension.
I welcome swift follow-up progress in areas such as trade, investment and finance and discussed how to build on these achievements, he said in a post on X after the meeting.
Cho highlighted India’s hosting of Korea Week this week, and how it fulfilled Modi’s commitment to directly address challenges faced by Korean businesses in India.
I am grateful for India’s strong support, and Korea will soon host a similar dialogue for Indian companies in Korea, he said.
The two foreign ministers also had an in-depth discussion on the rapidly changing global landscape and agreed to maintain close communication in responding to economic implications stemming from developments in West Asia, said Cho.
Later in the day, Jaishankar also met South Korea’s Director of National Security Wi Sung-lac.
Had a useful exchange of strategic assesments on global developments and the Indo-Pacific, Jaishankar said in a post on X.
Jaishankar and FM Cho are scheduled to meet again Thursday at the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, where the former will deliver the keynote speech.