South Korea and India announced Tuesday in Seoul the start of negotiations aimed at signing a pack for economic partnership by the end of 2007.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and visiting Indian President Abdul Kalam agreed to launch specific negotiations on the economic cooperation deal during their summit earlier in the day at the Presidential Office, according to a statement of the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

After the summit, South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-jong and Indian Rural Development Minister Radhuvansh Prasad Singh made a joint announcement on the start of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

A CEPA is regarded as a higher-level, wider-ranging pact than a free trade agreement (FTA). A FTA only frees the trade of goods, services and investments, but a CEPA includes economic and technological cooperation.

The ministry hoped the deal would give South Korea greater access to the 659 billion-U.S. dollar economy of India and its population of 1.05 billion people.

The statement also said the bilateral trade between the two countries is expected to increase 60 percent, or 3.3 billion dollars, after the CEPA takes effect.

In 2004, South Korea exported 3.6 billion dollars worth of goods to India and imported 1.9 billion dollars of goods from the South Asian country, resulting in a trade surplus of 1.7 billion dollars, according to the ministry figures.

South Korea and India will begin the first round of free trade talks in March in India's capital New Delhi, the ministry said.

In addition, the two countries also signed a pact for cooperation in the customs area and a revised pact for scientific and technological cooperation.

South Korea and India, both global information-technology (IT) strongholds, agreed to boost technological ties in a renewed cooperation agreement, under which each side will set aside some 200,000 dollars for various projects this year.

Kalam arrived in Seoul on Monday evening for his four-day trip in South Korea. It is the first time for a Indian president to visit South Korea since the two established diplomatic relations in 1973.

Kalam is to visit the (South) Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology and the (South) Korea Aerospace Research Institute on Wednesday before leaving South Korea for home on Thursday.

Source: Xinhua