President Lee holds summit with Italian prime minister visiting Korea for first time in 19 years... cooperation on AI and semiconductor supply chains

[The Financial News] President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea held a summit with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is visiting Korea, at Cheong Wa Dae on the 19th. President Lee, welcoming Prime Minister Meloni, said, “Thank you for making the effort to come to Korea. It has been 19 years since an Italian prime minister last visited Korea,” underscoring his warm welcome.
This was the second summit between President Lee and Prime Minister Meloni. The two leaders first held a summit last September in New York City on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Notably, Prime Minister Meloni is the first foreign leader President Lee has received at Cheong Wa Dae since his return there, and the first European head of state to visit Korea since the launch of the current administration. Before arriving in Korea on the 17th, Prime Minister Meloni visited Japan and met with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
The two leaders agreed to increase trade and investment between the two countries while stepping up industrial cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), aerospace, semiconductors, and critical raw materials. After welcoming Prime Minister Meloni at the main building of Cheong Wa Dae, President Lee held a small-group meeting followed by an expanded summit, during which they discussed ways to enhance bilateral cooperation and addressed international issues, and then jointly announced the outcome of the talks to the press.
On this occasion, President Lee and Prime Minister Meloni signed documents on civil protection cooperation, a Memorandum of Understanding on the Protection of Cultural Heritage and Landscapes (MOU), and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on semiconductor industry cooperation. The MOU on semiconductor industry cooperation focuses on promoting industrial cooperation and information sharing in the semiconductor sector, including AI, as well as sharing supply chain–related information between the public and private sectors and activating networking.
In their joint press statement, President Lee said, “I believe your decision to visit us despite your busy schedule at the beginning of the year clearly demonstrates your strong commitment to advancing relations with Korea,” adding, “It is also deeply meaningful for me to welcome Prime Minister Meloni as the first foreign guest at this Cheong Wa Dae, to which I have returned after three years.”
He continued, “Korea and Italy are very old friends, having celebrated the 140th anniversary of diplomatic ties the year before last,” and emphasized, “We agreed to further develop bilateral relations to a more future-oriented level befitting the name of strategic partners.”
Italy is South Korea’s fourth-largest trading partner within the European Union (EU), and around one million Korean nationals visit Italy each year. In line with this, the two sides agreed to further strengthen economic cooperation going forward. They also concurred on invigorating the Korea–Italy Business Forum, in which companies from both countries participate, as a platform for creating new opportunities and as a channel for addressing business concerns. In particular, drawing on Italy’s strength in its well-developed small and medium-sized enterprise ecosystem, the two countries plan to pursue cooperation on fostering and supporting SMEs. In addition, they agreed to make detailed efforts to ensure that Korean nationals can travel in Italy more conveniently and safely, including by expanding Korean-language audio guides at major tourist destinations.
They also agreed to expand cooperation in science, which they described as crucial to the future of their nations. President Lee said, “By supporting joint research in basic and applied fields, we will continue to identify capable researchers and further broaden the horizons of cooperation into cutting-edge industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), space, and aviation,” adding, “We will also work to achieve mutually complementary cooperation in the defense industry based on each side’s strengths.”
In addition, through the signing of the MOU on semiconductor cooperation, the two sides agreed to continue expanding cooperation between their private sectors in the field of semiconductors.
President Lee said, “Our two countries have signed memorandums of understanding on disaster prevention and management, on the protection and preservation of cultural heritage, and on cooperation in the semiconductor sector,” and added, “I expect that, thanks to the outcomes of this summit, the breadth of cooperation between our countries will further expand and that people-to-people exchanges in many fields will become even more active.” He went on, “Above all, today’s summit was an opportunity for Korea and Italy, as long-standing friends, like-minded allies, and strategic partners, to reaffirm each other’s importance and to speak candidly about the future direction of our relations,” adding, “I am deeply grateful for your expression of intent to invite me on a state visit. I look forward to visiting Italy in the not-too-distant future and achieving tangible results.”
The two leaders also stressed that their countries are like-minded allies that share values and jointly respond to global challenges on the international stage, and stated that they would work together not only to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula but also to uphold the value of peace worldwide.
cjk@fnnews.com Choi Jong-geun, Sung Seok-woo Reporter