India and South Korean here on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to help strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation between the two countries, at the Blue House, a week after the Pulwama terror attack that left CRPF personnel dead.
The MoU was inked in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in after the two sides held delegation-level talks.
“I express my gratitude to President Moon for his condolences on the Pulwama terrorist attack and support against terror. The MoU signed between the two countries will further take forward our counter-terrorism agenda,” Modi said after a joint statement was issued by the the two countries.
The PM, who is on his two-day visit to South Korea, said to boost bilateral cooperation in defence production, a roadmap has been agreed to by the two sides on defence technology and co-production.
“The defence sector is an important part of our growing partnership with South Korea. An example of this is the induction of K-9 Vajra artillery guns in the Indian Army,” he said on the concluding day of his visit.
The first batch of South Korean made K-9 self-propelled howitzers were delivered to the Army last year. The induction of 100 long-range guns are expected to be completed by November 2020.
Modi said that the combination of India’s Act East Policy id giving a platform to strengthen the special strategic partnership between the two countries.
“India’s vision on Indo-Pacific is a special emphasis on ASEAN’s centrality and shared prosperity,” he said.
Both the leaders held talks on enhancing cooperation in key areas such as trade and investment, defence and security, energy, space, start-ups and people-to-people exchanges, according to EAM spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
This is the PM’s second visit to South Korea after his state visit in May 2015.
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