SME Times News Bureau | 17 Jun, 2010
India and South Korea will discuss the contours of a bilateral civilian nuclear deal and map out steps to achieve a $30 billion trade when the foreign ministers of the two countries hold talks in Seoul on Friday.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna will hold the sixth meeting of the joint commission with his South Korean counterpart Yu Myung-hwan on a wide range of issues, including expansion of economic, defence and cultural ties between the two countries.

Krishna begins his three-day visit to South Korea, known for premium brands like Hyundai, LG and Samsung, Thursday. He will also call on President Lee Myung-bak.

"Some agreements are likely to be concluded after the talks," external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash told reporters here Wednesday, adding that the visit "will give a new momentum" to the strategic partnership between the two countries.

The civil nuclear cooperation will figure prominently in the discussions. "It will be discussed," Gautam Bambawale, joint secretary in charge of East Asia, said here.

Official sources said the two sides have been in touch with South Korea over a bilateral civil nuclear cooperation pact for some time.

South Korea, a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), supported consensus for reopening global civil nuclear trade with India in the NSG in September 2008. Last year, a South Korean consortium won $20.4 billion contract to build four 1,400-MW civilian nuclear power units in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), beating American and French companies for one of Middle East's biggest energy deals.

India has signed civil nuclear accords with seven countries - the US, France, Russia, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Argentina and Mongolia. India has finalised a nuclear deal with Canada, which is expected to be signed later this year.

With a view to scaling up bilateral trade from $15 billion to 30 billion by 2014, the two sides are expected to focus on increased cooperation in high priority areas like IT, civilian space, knowledge-based industries, high technology, energy, automobiles and defence.

The proposed $12 billion South Korean POSCO steel project, to be set up at Jagatsinghpur district in Orissa, will also figure in the discussions.

Ahead of Krishna's visit, the Central government Wednesday said it has given all requisite clearances to the project and clarified it was now up to the state government to move the project forward.

"We hope it will get off the ground soon," he said when asked about the status of the POSCO project.

To increase people-to-people contacts, a festival of India will be held in South Korea and a festival of South Korea will be held here next year.

Closer cooperation in combating global financial recession will also be discussed in the context of the G20 summit Seoul will host later this year.