Overview
- An agreement announced Monday in New Delhi revives negotiations to upgrade the India–Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, a free‑trade pact first signed in 2010.
- Leaders set a target to raise annual trade from about $27 billion to $50 billion by 2030 and said they aim to complete the CEPA upgrade within a year.
- New platforms to speed business include an India–Korea Financial Forum, a ministerial Industrial Cooperation Committee, an Economic Security Dialogue, and plans for one‑stop desks in both leaders’ offices.
- The two sides launched an India–Korea Digital Bridge for work in artificial intelligence, semiconductors and IT, and adopted frameworks to expand shipbuilding and maritime logistics as well as a joint statement on energy resource security covering naphtha and other petroleum products.
- Roughly 20 private MOUs were signed at a major business forum, highlighted by a POSCO–JSW steel joint venture of nearly $7.3 billion, while India proposed a Korean industrial township to ease entry for SMEs after past hurdles like land delays and policy unpredictability.