President Moon Jae-in and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a summit at 9:20 this morning on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. During their 25-minute talks, they engaged in in-depth discussions on ways to expand substantive bilateral relations and help resolve key pending global issues, including North Korea and its nuclear development.

The two leaders noted the steady progress in bilateral ties on a variety of fronts, including foreign affairs, national security, the economy and trade. They also concurred on the importance of working to build a community for common prosperity by promoting the qualitative growth of bilateral relations befitting the Korea-India special strategic partnership established in May 2015.

In addition, the two leaders expressed an understanding that Korea and India would be able to advance bilateral cooperation in a mutually beneficial manner by increasing substantive collaboration based on complementary economic structures.

They also saw eye to eye on the need for the two advanced science and technology powerhouses to jointly respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, thereby making contributions to both governments` drive to create more jobs.

In particular, the two leaders agreed that the combination of hardware technologies, Korea`s strength, with software technologies, India`s strength, would create synergy. They also shared a common understanding that cooperation between the two countries’ SMEs and startups would generate mutually beneficial results such as the expansion of business opportunities and job creation.

In addition, Prime Minister Modi said he had a high level of interest in Korea-Plus, which had been launched following his visit to Korea in 2015, explaining about the Indian Government`s active support for the smooth operation of Korean businesses that made investments in India.  

President Moon explained that Korea, as the party directly affected by the North Korean nuclear and other Korean Peninsula issues, intended to take the lead in efforts to solve the North Korean nuclear issue. Expressing his support for the Korean Government’s policies and endeavors to solve the North Korean nuclear and missile issues and establish regional peace, Prime Minister Modi said the Indian Government would continue to participate in the international community’s efforts in that regard.

The bilateral summit, the first meeting between the two leaders, was regarded as very meaningful as it established mutual trust and became an opportunity to drastically expand substantive cooperation between the two nations.

Prime Minister Modi asked President Moon to visit India at the earliest date possible, and the two leaders agreed to discuss the details through diplomatic channels.