Mr Oh Youg-Ho, President and CEO, Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Korea, said that the Indo-Korea Trade has touched US$ 18.8 billion in 2012, as compared to a modest US$ 2.51 billion in 2001, thanks mostly to the Korea-India CEPA which came into operation three years in 2010.

While addressing the seminar on "Korea India CEPA & Investment-Maximising the Benefits of CEPA" on 15 February 2013 in New Delhi, coinciding with the 20th International Engineering and Technology Fair (IETF) organized by the CII, Mr Young-Ho said that since the CEPA came into effect, India's trade with Korea grew at a faster rate and opportunities offered by CEPA for cooperation should be fully utilized for mutual benefit.

Mr Adi Godrej, President CII and Chairman Godrej Group, speaking at the seminar said that India and Korea are now committed to lowering or eliminating import tariff on a wide range of goods over the next ten years and expand opportunities for investment and exchanging services. Inviting Korean enterprises to invest in manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, Mr Godrej said that India could be a good export market for Korean manufacturing industries, which will bring synergy in services sector with Korea's known strength in semiconductors and electronics. He said, "this seminar would undoubtedly enhance the understanding of effectively utilizing the CEPA as an instrument to catalyze trade in goods and services and investment between the two countries."

Mr Han Ki-Won, Commissioner of Invest Korea addressing the seminar said that India is one of the top target countries of Korean industries for investment. Mr Sung-Kyun, Director of Korea Customs Service gave a detailed presentation and said that Koreans are now showing interest in Indian products as tariffs have come down from 8% to zero percent on a range of products due to implementation of CEPA.

Mr Sumit Yadav, Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai and Mr Park Min-Joon, Director of Kotra Chennai also made detailed presentations on "import-export procedures" and "Checkpoint & Business Model offered by the CEPA" respectively.

The seminar was attended by over two hundred industry representatives from both India and Korea.