President Roh Moo-hyun will fly to Hanoi Wednesday to attend the Asia Europe Meeting shortly after wrapping up his state visit to India.

On the last day in India, Roh met with the leader of India's ruling National Congress Party, Sonia Ghandi, and asked the Indian parliament to provide support towards South Korean firms that want to advance into India.

And earlier on Tuesday, Roh met with Indian President Abdul Kalam in a dinner meeting during which he expressed Seoul’s gratitude for India’s support in seeking a peaceful resolution to North Korea’s nuclear issue and invited Kalam to visit South Korea.

Roh’s dinner with Kalam came after he held summit talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and agreed to exert full efforts to expand bilateral trade to some 10 billion dollars by 2008. The two leaders also agreed to hold joint researches for the adoption of a bilateral free trade agreement.

In addition, the two countries concurred to boost cooperation in the areas of information and technology, steel manufacturing, construction of India’s infrastructure and development of oil and gas fields.