President Lee Jae Myung delivers a speech during a meeting with members of the Korean community in India at a hotel in New Delhi, Sunday. Yonhap
NEW DELHI — President Lee Jae Myung said Sunday that Korea and India are expected to take their relations to “an entirely new level” at a planned bilateral summit, adding that ties have lagged despite India’s growth potential.
Speaking before members of the Korean community in India, Lee expressed hope that they can serve as “invaluable assets” in strengthening bilateral ties.
“The level of cooperation between Korea and India is quite low compared to India’s vast potential, and Indian authorities agree with this assessment,” Lee said as he met the community members on the first day of his official visit to India from Sunday to Tuesday.
“I believe that tomorrow’s summit could become a turning point, elevating Korea–India relations to an entirely new level,” the president said.
Lee’s remarks came a day before a scheduled summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India, which has the world’s largest population of 1.4 billion, is the fourth-largest economy globally and continues to post robust annual growth of over 6 percent.
India is also no longer just a consumer market but has become a key driver of global production and supply chains.
However, as for relations with Korea, India hosts only a little over 12,000 Koreans.
The country also has about 600 to 700 Korean companies operating there, compared to more than 10,000 firms in Vietnam, Lee’s next destination on his two-leg trip this week.
“Going forward, we will transform Korea–India relations into something completely different from what they are now,” he added.
Source: Korea Times News
