External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday called for closer cooperation between India and South Korea, saying the two countries possess significant complementarities across sectors ranging from shipbuilding and semiconductors to healthcare, infrastructure and defence.

Delivering the keynote address at the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity 2026 during his two-day visit to South Korea, Jaishankar argued that a more fragmented global landscape requires nations to develop new forms of cooperation to ensure resilience, economic stability and shared prosperity.

Fragmentation Is The New Global Reality

Addressing the theme of the forum, Jaishankar said he agreed that the world was becoming increasingly fragmented and that cooperation remained the most effective response.

“This forum is discussing a fragmented world as a problem and reinventing cooperation as a solution. I agree with both the diagnosis and the treatment,” he said.

However, he cautioned that fragmentation was unlikely to disappear and should not be viewed entirely negatively.

“Having said that, let us recognise two facts: One, that fragmentation is here to stay. And two, that perhaps it is not altogether bad, in some ways even good. After all, it means less dominance, more space and greater democratisation,” he said.

Jaishankar noted that despite geopolitical tensions, countries remain deeply interconnected through trade, technology and supply chains.

“What characterises our current existence above all is the degree of economic integration and interdependence. The world is increasingly about supply chains, their efficiency and their resilience. This is not just about goods, it is equally about resources,” he said.

Technology And Global Challenges Demand Cooperation

Highlighting the growing influence of technology, Jaishankar said artificial intelligence would further deepen global interconnectedness.

“The advent of AI, artificial intelligence, will only accelerate these trends since the capture of data and the deployment of models is inherently transnational,” he said.

He also stressed that major global challenges cannot be tackled by individual countries acting alone.

“Now paradoxically, the challenges we confront have only further strengthened the centripetal side, whether it is pandemics like COVID-19, acts of terrorism or the impact of extreme climate events. These cannot be contained within political jurisdictions. International cooperation is therefore a must,” he said.

Referring to India’s civilisational outlook, Jaishankar added, “In India, we know that traditionally as Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the world is a family.”

At the same time, he warned that strategic considerations were increasingly shaping economic relationships and connectivity projects.

“The natural play of commerce is increasingly influenced by calculations of strategy. Now this spills over into the domain of connectivity as well, whether we think of it as choke points or whether we are talking about specific projects,” he said.

Concerns Over Dominance And Global Inequality

Jaishankar criticised practices that, in his view, limit industrial development opportunities for emerging economies.

“The right to industrialise, indeed the capacity and the opportunity to do so, this is being denied to many developing states by the manipulation of competitiveness and by restrictions of market access. This is but another facet of exercising dominance and retaining control,” he said.

He also argued that the international system was witnessing increasing “weaponisation” across multiple domains.

“The world is today witnessing greater weaponisation, weaponisation of everything. We are seeing higher risk-taking and a politics that is suited to, in a way driven by, the social media era,” he said.

According to Jaishankar, the interests of a few countries were often prioritised at the expense of broader global welfare.

“As the interests of a few are openly prioritised, the costs to the many are less considered. This can only be countered, and it must be countered, by cooperation on more issues with greater players,” he added.

Five-Point Agenda For Reinventing Cooperation

The External Affairs Minister outlined five priorities for strengthening international cooperation in a fragmented world.

These include reducing risks in the global economy through diversified supply chains, building closer partnerships among influential nations, safeguarding international legal frameworks such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), expanding opportunities for countries in the Global South and advancing reforms in multilateral institutions.

Linking these objectives to bilateral ties, Jaishankar said India and South Korea were well positioned to deepen collaboration across a broad range of sectors.

“These five factors make a powerful case why India and the Republic of Korea must cooperate more closely.”

Emphasising the complementary strengths of the two countries, he added, “We have complementarities, we have many complementarities in many fields, from ships to chips, and also health, infrastructure or defense, which are just waiting to be exploited.”

Jaishankar said discussions during his meetings in Seoul had focused on expanding economic and technological cooperation, strengthening political and strategic engagement and enhancing people-to-people ties.

He noted that the growing importance of India-South Korea relations reflected the need for trusted partnerships capable of contributing to a more resilient and cooperative international order.

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