Korea and India will use the summit as a springboard to strengthen cooperation in responding to the global energy supply chain crisis caused by the Middle East war, including building a stable supply system for petrochemical feedstocks such as naphtha.
On the 20th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said that, on the occasion of the Korea-India summit, the two countries agreed to build a stable supply chain for key energy resources such as naphtha, while signing four memorandums of understanding across industry, including the launch of an industrial cooperation committee, the resumption of CEPA talks, steel cooperation, and climate change mitigation.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) adopted an annex to the Joint Statement on Korea-India Energy Resource Security Cooperation, which includes an agreement with India—Korea's No. 5 naphtha import source and No. 1 export destination for base oils—to establish a mutually stable supply chain for petroleum products. The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) said the joint statement marks the government's first outcome in resource-sector cooperation concluded bilaterally with a counterpart government since the Middle East war.
Based on this, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) plans to support Korean corporations in consultations with India on naphtha supply and demand. It also plans to expand close cooperation, including adopting joint statements, with other resource-rich countries so that Korean corporations can stably overcome supply-and-demand crises for resources such as naphtha.
Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) and Minister Piyush Goyal of India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry signed an MOU to launch the Korea-India industrial cooperation committee. The MOU establishes the first ministerial-level, regular consultative body in economic cooperation between Korea and India and will discuss discovering cooperative projects and solutions to difficulties faced by locally operating corporations across four areas: trade and investment, industrial cooperation, strategic resources, and clean energy.
Yeo Han-koo, head of the Office of the Minister for Trade at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), and Minister Piyush Goyal of India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry signed the Joint Declaration to accelerate Korea-India CEPA improvement talks. The Korea-India CEPA is a key institutional foundation underpinning expanded trade between the two countries, but improvement talks had effectively been suspended since the 11th meeting in Jul. 2024.
The two countries agreed on the need to accelerate improvement talks and signed a joint declaration whose main points include holding the 12th round in May and regularizing follow-up negotiations thereafter. While the two sides will build a corporation-friendly trade environment in the existing goods, services, and rules of origin subcommittees under negotiation, they also plan to add new trade-rules subcommittees in line with the changed environment, including digital trade and supply chain cooperation.
Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) and Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of India's Ministry of Steel signed the Korea-India steel cooperation MOU. With POSCO Holdings having released an investment in a new integrated steel mill in India with an annual capacity of 6 million tons (t), the MOU is also expected to serve as a foundation supporting local investment and business expansion by Korean steel corporations.
Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) and Minister Bhupender Yadav of India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change signed the Korea-India Paris Agreement Article 6.2 MoC. The MoC establishes a bilateral cooperation framework based on Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement and lays the groundwork for transferring to Korea the emissions reductions generated by greenhouse gas reduction projects that Korean corporations pursue in India.