1. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj will hold the eighth meeting of the ROK-India Foreign Ministerial Joint Committee at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on December 29.

o In the upcoming meeting, the two sides will discuss ways to strengthen substantive cooperation between the two countries in a range of areas, including high-level exchanges, national defense, defense industry, trade, investment, infrastructure, energy, science, technology, society and culture. They will also exchange views on regional and global issues.

2. The 8th Joint Committee meeting takes place for the second year in a row after the 7th meeting last year and marks the first since the launch of the new Modi government in India in May this year. The meeting is expected to help further deepen and expand the “ROK-India strategic partnership” forged in 2010 by providing the two countries with an opportunity to hold in-depth discussions and coordinate their views on bilateral issues and other issues of mutual concern.

3. During President Park Geun-hye’s state visit to India in January 2014, the ROK and India laid out a joint future vision to advance the ROK-India strategic partnership for the next 40 years. Following the inauguration of Prime Minister Modi in May, the two countries, in a bid to maintain and strengthen momentum for bilateral cooperation, have continued their communications, including telephone conversations between the ROK and Indian Foreign Ministers (June 24) and between President Park Geun-hye and Prime Minister Modi (July 22), Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (August 10), Vice-Ministerial Foreign Policy and Security Dialogue (August 29), Meeting of Directors-General of the ROK and Indian Foreign Ministries (October 24), and summit on the sidelines of the East Asian Summit (November 12). This year’s diplomatic activities between the two countries will conclude with the upcoming 8th Joint Committee meeting. 


               Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

*unofficial translation