A summit between President Lee Jae-myung and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was held on the 19th at the Blue House. Lee welcomed a foreign leader at the Blue House for the first time.
In his opening remarks at the summit, Lee said, "In science and technology, as well as aerospace and defense, cooperation between the two countries continues to grow. The potential of bilateral ties feels virtually limitless," adding, "If Italy's traditional strengths as a scientific powerhouse join forces with the core DNA of the Republic of Korea as a technology powerhouse, the two countries can create great synergy."
He added, "Now about 1 million of our people visit Italy annually, showing our people's exceptional affection for Italy. And recently, with the rising popularity of K-culture in Italy, more Italians are visiting Korea," and said, "Above all, nothing strengthens friendly ties more than people meeting often. With the prime minister's visit to Korea and my subsequent visit to Italy, I am confident that our countries will expand and advance a mutually beneficial, future-oriented partnership."
Meloni said, "I am very satisfied with this visit to Korea, thank you, and I sincerely appreciate the hospitality shown to the delegation," adding, "It is a bit surprising that despite such close ties, no prime minister visited Korea for as long as 19 years."
Meloni mentioned Korea's soft power, including K-pop. Meloni said, "As you know, my daughter is a K-pop fan. Korea is widely spreading its soft power through K-pop, and I think we can explore how to enhance our cooperation in that field as well," adding, "On various international crises and pending issues, I always want to hear the president's views. I hope to use my visit as an opportunity to institutionalize political dialogue."
At the end of her opening remarks, Meloni said, "I would like the president to make a state visit to Italy this year," to which Lee replied in Italian, "Grazie (thank you)."
The two leaders then pledged cooperation across various fields in a joint press announcement. First, they agreed to activate the Korea-Italy Business Forum as a problem-solving channel for the countries' corporations, and to pool efforts in nurturing small and mid-size businesses, leveraging Italy's strength in a well-developed small-business ecosystem.
They also agreed to expand cooperation in science. Lee said, "Through support for joint research in basic and applied fields, we will continue to discover capable researchers and further broaden the horizon of cooperation into advanced industries such as artificial intelligence and aerospace," adding, "In the defense industry, we will also pursue complementary cooperation based on our respective strengths."
They discussed ways to boost cultural and people-to-people exchanges. The two sides agreed to facilitate exchanges by expanding Korean-language audio guides at major Italian tourist sites, and during the Winter Olympics to be held in Italy next month, Prime Minister Meloni will visit the Korean delegation in person.
The two leaders also shared views on easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, including denuclearization of the peninsula.