This event was the first face-to-face meeting since the launch of the 2+2 Policy Dialogue Think Tank. The meeting was attended by KIEP President Siwook Lee, KNDA Chancellor Cheol Hee Park, Ambassador Vijay Thakur Singh, Director General of ICWA, Dr. Seshadri Chari from Governing Body and Governing Council at RIS, Former South Korean Ambassador to India Joon-Gyu Lee, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister of Political Affairs Byung-Won Chung, and Indian Ambassador to South Korea Amit Kumar.

KIEP plans to use this dialogue as an opportunity to develop expert exchanges to strengthen strategic trust between Korea and India by institutionalizing and regularizing the dialogue channel for the four think tanks between Korea and India.

The event was divided into three sessions. In Session 1 (ROK-India Perspective on a Changing Strategic Landscape in the Indo-Pacific), Session 2 (Ways to Strengthen ROK-India’s Strategic and Security Trust in the Indo-Pacific), and Session 3 (The Rise of the Global South and the ROK-India Development Partnership), both Korean and Indian scholars made presentations and experts discussed the topics of each session.

KIEP President Siwook Lee said in his opening remarks that the global economy is facing a growing need to solve problems through cooperation between countries due to protectionism, digital transformation, and climate change. “Under the recent international situation, the demand for the two countries to take the lead by promoting strategic cooperation has grown more than ever,” he added, noting that “South Korea has a 'special strategic partnership' with India, a key partner in the implementation of the Indo-Pacific strategy.”

Dr. Jeong Gon Kim, Head of India and South Asia Team at KIEP, mentioned that global supply chain reorganization is underway, focusing on key GVC industries such as semiconductors and automobiles, with an emphasis on ‘fragmentation’ and ‘multi-alignment’ as strategic environmental changes in the Indo-Pacific region. He assessed that in the midst of these global environmental changes, the Korea-India economic partnership will create a new inflection point around high-tech industries such as electric electronics, electric vehicles and batteries, clean energy, and digital and artificial intelligence.

Dr. Kyunghoon Kim, Associate Research Fellow of KIEP, predicted that the South Korean government will increase official development assistance to India in the future and step up the Korea-India development cooperation partnership. Moreover, he said “Developed countries are strengthening triangular cooperation with India which is emerging as a major donor to the Global South,” adding “South Korea and India will also be able to use the strengths of both countries to jointly solve the challenges of developing countries.”

- Title: The 2nd KNDA-KIEP-ICWA-RIS 2+2 Policy Dialogue

- Topic: ROK and India: Partners of Strategic Trust in the Indo-Pacific

- Date & Time: Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 10:00-17:00

- Venue: Korea National Diplomatic Academy, Seoul

- Co-hosts: Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), Indian Council of World Affairs (ICW), Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS)

- Contact: Mr. Jonghun Pek, Senior Researcher, India and South Asia Team (jhpek@kiep.go.kr)