India and South Korea Sign two Landmark MoUs to Boost Defence Cooperation

Published on September 4, 2010 by INVC   ·   No Comments  Print This Post

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Heralding a new chapter in the history of defence cooperation, India and South Korea today signed two landmark Memoranda of Understanding to give a huge boost to the Strategic Partnership between the two countries. The two MoUs were signed at the end of nearly ninety minutes of  intensive discussions, marked by warmth, between the delegations of the two countries, led by their Defence Ministers, Mr AK Antony and Mr Kim Tae-young in Seoul. This was the first ever visit of a Defence Minister of India to South Korea. Shri Antony was accompanied by a high-level delegation including the Defence Secretary Shri Pradeep Kumar, Vice Admiral RK Dhowan, Lt General KT Parnaik, Dr Prahlada and Shri Sundaram Krishna.

The first MoU signed by Mr Antony and Mr Kim  envisages exchange of defence related experience and information, mutual exchange of visits by military personnel and experts including civilian staff associated with defence services, military education and training and conduct of military exercises, exchange of visits of ships and aircraft, as jointly decided between the two countries. The MoU further envisages cooperation in humanitarian assistance and international peace keeping activities. The MoU will remain valid for a period of five years with provision for its extension by five more years.

The Second MoU  was signed by the Chief Controller of Research and Development of DRDO, Dr Prahlada and Vice Commissioner, Defence Acquisition and Procurement Agency (DAPA) of South Korea, Mr Kwon Oh Bong. To be operational under the overarching umbrella of India- South Korea Defence Agreement, the MoU aims at identifying futuristic defence technology areas of mutual interest and pursuing R&D works in both the countries. It also envisages co- development and co-production of defence products with Indian industry through DRDO. There will be joint IPR on all the products developed through this mechanism. Some areas of immediate interest e.g., marine systems, electronics and intelligent systems have been identified as priority tasks.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Antony said  New Delhi will be happy to see the defence industry relationship to be more than a buyer-seller relationship and its further evolution into Transfer of Technology, joint production and joint R&D etc. He hoped that ‘his visit will start a new chapter in our already close relationship’.

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