India, South Korea to boost ties in defence, cyber security

IANS
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 30

India and South Korea have sought to enhance bilateral ties based on cooperation in matters of defence and cyber security under the Make in India initiative.
On a three-day visit to South Korea, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj “outlined prospects of cooperation between the two countries in the wake of liberalisation of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in defence sector up to 49 percent and invited the Republic of Korea to use the opportunity to invest in manufacturing for the needs of the Indian defence sector under the Make in India initiative,” an official communique said Tuesday.In her meeting with South Korean Defence Minister Gen. Han Min-gu, the two agreed that India’s new defence minister would undertake a visit to Seoul in the first quarter of 2015 to further the prospects of defence cooperation.
“Gen Han acknowledged the enormous growth potential of defence ties under the ‘Make in India’ programme as Republic of Korea (RoK) had itself made the transition from being dependent on defence imports to manufacturing most of its needs indigenously,” said the communique from the ministry of external affairs.
In a separate meeting with the Korean President’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Kim Kwan-jin, the external affairs minister discussed possibilities of cooperation in cyber security.
“India and RoK had during visit of South Korean President Park Geun-hye to New Delhi in January 2014, agreed to work closely to tackle new threats in cyber space. For this purpose, the external affairs minister agreed with NSA Kim that India and RoK should hold policy consultations in early 2015. It is expected that these consultations will focus on sharing best practices, capacity building, and cooperation on exchanging information on threats,” the note added.