MUMBAI: In September 2012, when Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar led the Indian delegation to the General Assembly of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union at Seoul, he called on the then President of  Korea and other dignitaries. Since then the Korean Broadcasting System and Prasar Bharati have on-going partnerships.

However, a new partnership was sought to be made between the Korean International Broadcasting Foundation, Arirang TV and Doordarshan for which Sircar and CEO of Arirang TV Jie-Ae Sohn renewed correspondence recently in November, 2013.

And now the two stations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will allows them to share content. The CEOs from the two stations met in New Delhi on Friday and agreed to an exchange that will foster cultural ties between Korea and India.

The Korean Minister expressed hope for a deeper cultural understanding between India and South Korea. One of the officials was quoted as saying on the Arirang News website, “Through this exchange of broadcasting and broadcasters, we can jumpstart this cultural exchange between two very strong culturally rich countries.”

The deal took shape when ministers from both the countries were meeting to sign an MoU on Mutual Recognition of Digital Signature Certificates for Efficient E-Governance/Cross Border Trade Facilitation. Minister for Communications and Information Technology, India Kapil Sibal and Minister for Science, ICT and Future Planning, Republic of Korea Mun-kee Choi were present there.

Under the agreement, Arirang and Doordarshan aim to make their global channels available on satellite platforms in both nations by 2014. Both parties will even explore co-production opportunities related to matters of mutual interest and share TV programmes in the cultural, educational, scientific, agricultural, entertainment, sports, news and any other possible fields. The MoU will be valid for a period of three years from the date of signature and will be automatically renewed for every following three years, unless terminated by either party by giving a written notice of three months.

Interestingly, as the MoU was being signed, a documentary produced by Arirang TV was being aired on Doordarshan throughout India. The documentary explains the vision for the “creative economy” that President Park Geun-hye has advocated since the very beginning of her term last February.