South Korea, India plan to double bilateral trade by 2030

India and South Korea are expanding their business ties with an aim to increase bilateral trade to US $50 billion by 2030, the two countries' leaders said Tuesday.

Visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged their business communities to step up investments and promote joint ventures.

After their meetings, the two countries signed various agreements on business cooperation, cultural exchanges, technology sharing and scientific research.

Bilateral trade between the two Asian countries was $20 billion in 2017. Moon is on a four day state-visit to India and will travel to Singapore on Wednesday.

Modi said the two countries' foreign policies "naturally go together."

"On a policy level, India's 'Act East' policy and South Korea's 'New Southern strategy' naturally go together. And I heartily welcome President Moon's belief that India-South Korea relation is a founding pillar of their new Southern strategy," Modi said.

The two leaders agreed to create cultural exchange programs and ease visa processes to "deepen cultural and people-to-people relations."

The two leaders on Monday traveled in a metro train to Noida, in the outskirts of the India's capital, and inaugurated a new production facility of South Korea's Samsung Electronics, which they described as the largest mobile phone factory in the world.

The $728 million facility is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs in India.