India, Korea target $30 billion in bilateral trade by 2014

India's trade with South Korea grew 44 per cent to nearly $15 billion in 2010, a year after the signing of the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) with the country in August 2009. Bilateral trade between the two counties is expected to double to $30 billion by 2014, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said.

Sharma was speaking at the India-Korea Business Forum along with Kim Jong-Hoon, minister for trade of the Republic of Korea, in New Delhi today.

The five-fold growth in bilateral trade over the last eight years despite the recessionary backdrop points to the deepening trade and investment linkages between the two countries, Sharma said.

"I am confident that as exporters on both sides develop a better understanding of the advantages presented by this agreement through a liberal tariff regime, we should easily be in a position to achieve the trade target of $30 billion by 2014," he said.

"The services economy," the minister said, "will particularly benefit from a liberalised regime on both sides and will form an important building block for augmenting bilateral trade between our two countries."

"We view the agreement with the Republic of Korea to serve as an economic bridge between South Asia and the larger East Asian economy, paving the way for a larger regional economic integration across the continent of Asia," he added.