Korea will enhance bilateral partnership with India not only in information technology but also in the aerospace sector, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said in a press release on Sunday.

Science, ICT and Future Planning Minister Choi Mun-kee, who accompanied President Park Geun-hye to India, visited Bangalore on Saturday to seek a partnership with India’s space and software industry.

‘‘During his visit to the city nicknamed the Silicon Valley of India, the minister visited the Indian Space Research Organisation to see the field of India’s space technology development and to boost cooperation with ISRO in that area,” an MSIP official said.

The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to give shape to their 2010 agreement on technology exchange in the aerospace sector. It was agreed that various cooperation programs would include joint workshops to take place in the first half of the year and personnel exchange programs starting from 2015.

“Both Korea and India have a similar goal of seeking independence in space technology,” the minister said. “We hope to become partners to mutually benefit each other.”

Last Thursday, the ISRO signed an MOU with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute for cooperation in space technology development at the Korea-India summit.

India has seen successive achievements in the space development field. Following the launch of Chandrayaan-1, its first unmanned lunar probe, in 2008, India succeeded with the Mars Orbiter Mission last November and launched the GSAT-14 satellite this month.

On the same day, the Science Minister visited Samsung Electronics’ software laboratory in Bangalore, where around 5,000 Indian employees are developing software, to attend the opening ceremony of the Korea-India Software Partnership Center.

This center was jointly set up through the government-funded National IT industry Promotion Agency and Samsung Electronics to help Korea’s small and medium software companies utilize India’s talented IT personnel.

The NIPA is responsible for running the center by matching Korean companies with Indian software personnel. Samsung Electronics’ Indian laboratory plans to provide its know-how and network in India.

Choi said, “The government is endeavoring to foster the software industry as a vital industry in the realization of the creative economy.”

By Shin Ji-hye
(shinjh@heraldcorp.com)