India-Korea mutually seek to collaborate in Highway, Shipping and River development sectors
Seoul, April 13: “India plans to construct 12 expressways with an investment of over Rs 1 Lakh Crores which would stage a number of opportunities for Korean businesses,” said Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari while addressing India-Korea Infrastructure Cooperation Forum in Seoul on Thursday.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is on his 4-day visit to Korea, on Thursday he addressed the delegates of the Korea-India Infrastructure Cooperation Forum.
Leading members from the infrastructure business of both countries participated and exchanged views on the potential for doing business for mutual benefit.
Speaking on the occasion Gadkari said that India has plans to construct 12 expressways with an investment of over Rs 1 lakh crore. This, he said, would present huge opportunities for Korean businesses. Similarly developing the national waterways for commercial navigation in India, and the plans to develop shipbuilding, fisheries and the port sector will also create investment opportunities, he said.
Minister Gadkari also conveyed the Indian Government’s commitment to facilitating all foreign businesses who wished to invest in India.
He earlier met the leading members of the Korean Financial Sector to explore ways of greater Republic of Korea (RoK) involvement in financing interlinking of rivers, highway construction, developing logistics parks and shipbuilding activity in India. An important part of the cooperation would be to enhance training and discussion among experts from both sides. Indian highway engineers and shipbuilding engineers can be trained at specialized training institutions of Republic of Korea to expose them to the systems in place. Korean companies expressed keenness to work on the Nagpur Mumbai expressway project.
Minister Gadkari also met the Korean Minister for Land and Infrastructure (MOLIT) Kim Mee Hyun in Seoul on Thursday. The two Ministers discussed the prospects of cooperation in developing smart highways. Hyun said that RoK is committed to enhancing cooperation based on the commitments made during the visit of PM Modi in 2015. A draft Memorandum of Cooperation in the Infra sector is likely to be finalized soon. This will provide a sound institutional framework for enhancing bilateral engagement.
In another meeting with the RoK Minister for Environment KIM Eungyung, Minister Gadkari also discussed bilateral cooperation in the area of river cleaning and rejuvenation.
While India India-Korea Maritime Cooperation Forum kicked off on Wednesday, India inked MOU on Mutual Recognition of Certificates of Competency of Seafarers in presence of Shri @nitin_gadkari & Minister of Oceans & Fisheries of Republic of Korea #ROK. This will help #Korea with its big shipping fleet & India with its large pool of seafarers.
Addressing the India-Korea Maritime Cooperation Forum, Nitin Gadkari said “Our agenda of port led development & #ROKs strength in Maritime sec can create win-win situation. Transportation, ports, energy IT infra, electronics, water are all promising sectors. India-Korea partnership can promote development, stability & prosperity."