President Lee Jae-myung held his first phone call with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten on Monday.
Kang Yu-jung, senior spokesperson for the presidential office, said in a written briefing that "President Lee expressed pleasure at speaking with Prime Minister Jetten and congratulated him on his inauguration." Lee called this year "a meaningful year marking the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and the Netherlands," and highly praised the mutually beneficial development of the two countries' strategic partnership.
The two leaders agreed to explore ways to expand cooperation in advanced industries. Lee conveyed his intention that "the two countries should devise measures to expand practical cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum technology, along with close collaboration in the semiconductor sector."
Jetten expressed agreement with this view. "While maintaining robust cooperation between our two countries in the strategically valuable semiconductor sector, I hope to advance bilateral cooperation in other areas such as batteries and offshore wind power," Jetten said.
Kang said, "The two leaders agreed that the partnership between the two countries is important amid deepening global uncertainty due to Middle East tensions and other factors, and pledged to continue close communication going forward."
