As India and South Korea reset their focus to expand bilateral relations in the post Covid phase beyond political and economic affairs to touch security and cultural contours after the brutal Covid 19 wave, both countries need to look at boosting connectivity. The two need to normalise flight services at the earliest to ensure business activities pick up.
The two countries are expecting bilateral trade to touch $50 billion by 2030 from $21.5 billion in 2018. In 2018, bilateral trade between India and South Korea crossed the $20 billion mark for the first time despite the trade pact — Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CEPA) that was signed in 2010.
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“Several South Koreans are looking to come to India for business purposes, we are hoping that the flights are further opened up,” Hee Chul Jung, chief representative, Korea International Trade Association (KITA) told India Narrative. “India is a very important market for Korea and in the coming years, we are expecting bilateral trade and investments to go up considerably,” Jung said.
Jung added that India and South Korea share common culture, history and mythology.
“We have many things in common and now both South Korea and India need to further work together in the new post Covid world,” Jung said on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of the ‘Korea Fair in India.’
Amid changing geopolitical contours, which have also prompted India to look at other countries to ease its supply chain, countries like South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan are emerging as strong trading partners.
As Korean culture with its K pop and K drama gains popularity in India, demand for Korean products has also increased like never before despite the price points.
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“There is a huge social change in India—anything that is Korean is now in vogue with the younger generation..the craze for Western culture is diminishing fast,” an expert on foreign language said.
However, legal experts, who closely work primarily with the Korean companies, said that while ease of doing business in India has improved, “a lot needs to be done on the ground.” “There is lack of clarity when it comes to crucial investment norms and these differ from state to state,” one of them said.
