Jaishankar, South Korea’s Cho Review Bilateral Ties Amid Evolving Global Landscape

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun in Seoul on Wednesday, with the two sides focusing on strengthening bilateral cooperation and assessing developments amid an evolving global situation.

Jaishankar is in South Korea on a two-day visit, the second leg of his ongoing foreign tour following his trip to Mongolia.

Opening the meeting in Seoul, Jaishankar emphasised both the timing of the talks and the importance of the relationship between the two countries.

“It is a great pleasure to be back in Seoul and to meet you and your team today for our discussions,” he said, adding that current global developments made the engagement particularly significant.

Jaishankar said recent high-level exchanges had provided momentum to strengthen ties, referring to South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s visit to India in April and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Lee at the G7 summit in Evian, France, last week.

The ministers reviewed progress and follow-up measures across trade, investment and finance, while discussing ways to deepen broader cooperation.

“As foreign ministers it is clearly our responsibility to take this relationship forward, to oversee what different parts of the government and different parts of our economy of our country do with each other in their interaction,” Jaishankar said.

He added that India remained fully committed to unlocking the full potential of bilateral ties, which both sides agreed had considerable room for growth.

Following the meeting, Jaishankar said in a social media post: “We reviewed our cooperation across political, shipbuilding, trade, investments, defence, technology, clean energy, culture and P2P (people-to-people) domains.”

He added that the two sides also explored opportunities in startups, fintech and multilateral engagement, while exchanging views on regional and global developments.

The discussions in Seoul continued over lunch and lasted around three hours.

Cho described President Lee’s April visit to India as a milestone in advancing relations.

"I welcome swift follow-up progress in areas such as trade, investment and finance and discussed how to build on these achievements," he said in a post on X.

Cho also referred to India’s hosting of “Korea Week”, saying it reflected Modi’s commitment to addressing concerns raised by Korean businesses operating in India.

"I am grateful for India’s strong support, and Korea will soon host a similar dialogue for Indian companies in Korea," he said.

The two ministers also held detailed discussions on changes in the global landscape and agreed to remain in close contact to address economic implications arising from developments in West Asia, according to Cho.

Later in the day, Jaishankar met South Korea’s Director of National Security Wi Sung-lac.

"Had a useful exchange of strategic assesments on global developments and the Indo-pacific," Jaishankar said in another post on X.

Jaishankar and Cho are scheduled to meet again on Thursday at the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, where the Indian minister will deliver the keynote address.

(PTI inputs)