Indian premier receives peace prize in South Korea

ANKARA

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with the Seoul Peace Prize on Friday during his two-day visit to South Korea, media reports said.

Modi became the 14th recipient of the award “for his contribution to international cooperation and fostering global economic growth”, news agency Press Trust of India said.

Speaking at the award ceremony in Seoul, Modi said: "This award does not belong to me personally but to the people of India."

The award was presented to Modi by a non-governmental organization Seoul Peace Prize Foundation.

The Indian premier met South Korean President Moon Jae-in to strengthen military ties and defense cooperation between both countries.

Korean news agency Yonhap said that during their meeting, Moon and Modi agreed to speed up negotiations to enhance the countries' free trade agreement, known as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which took effect in January 2010.

“The leaders vowed efforts to closely cooperate to achieve their shared goal of more than doubling trade volume to $50 billion by 2030,” it added.

The two-way trade between India and South Korea in 2018 reached a record $21.5 billion, with India becoming South Korea's seventh-largest export destination.