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Indians can now open yoga institutes in South Korea, while South Korean taekwondo institutes can come up in India under the Early Harvest Package (EHP) signed last week by both countries as part of the upgraded Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) under negotiations.
“Seven fish items, including varieties of shrimp, beer, jams & jellies, mango, corn and maize, are among the 17 Indian products where South Korea has agreed to eliminate import tariffs as part of the EHP,” according to a Commerce Ministry official.
India, on the other hand, has agreed to reduce/eliminate tariffs for eleven items exported by South Korea which include fish fillets and marine base oil.
Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in had set a target of increasing bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030 from the existing level of $ 20 billion.
“On the seven identified fish items, South Korea has agreed to reduce the imports tariffs to zero per cent from 20 per cent immediately for 15,000 tonnes. This will provide a huge opportunity to the exporters of shrimp and other fish varieties as India’s total exports to South Korea at present is just 2,400 tonnes,” the official explained.
The decision to allow yoga institutes to come up in South Korea is a big boost to India as under the existing CEPA, only instructors of yoga are allowed to travel to the country to teach.
“Instead of just allowing access for yoga under Mode 4 (movement of professionals), South Korea has now allowed access under the first three Modes as well which can allow Indians to invest in setting up institutes in the country,” the official said.
To make it easier for professionals to move from one country to the other, EHP also increased the visa duration for ICT employees to three years from one year.
In the area of goods, South Korea has agreed to reduce the import tariffs on Indian beer to zero per cent from 30 per cent over a period of ten years of equal cuts. On mangoes, duties would be eliminated from the present 20 per cent in eight years time.
Bilateral trade is heavily in favour of South Korea which enjoyed a trade surplus of $12 billion with India in 2017-18.
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