President Lee Jae-myung, who is on a state visit to Italy, told Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during a summit Thursday that he regretted not being able to face Italy in the World Cup finals. After Meloni congratulated Korea on winning its first match at this World Cup, Lee responded by offering words of comfort to Italy, which failed to qualify for the finals.
In his opening remarks at the expanded meeting with Meloni, Lee said, "I am pleased to see you again," adding, "It has been three days since I arrived in Italy, and I feel deeply moved." This marked the fourth meeting between Lee and Meloni. The two leaders met three times previously — at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada in June last year, the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, and during Meloni's state visit to Korea in January.
"Italians and Koreans are emotionally similar and get along well with each other," Lee said. "We discussed last time how important a rules-based international order is, and I hope we can work together to develop cooperation in areas such as free trade and multilateralism."
He added, "It seems we need to establish a new framework for cooperation, and that is why I believe the development of bilateral relations is all the more meaningful." Lee also said, "We are in a complementary relationship, and I believe we can create synergy through our cooperation." During Lee's state visit, the two countries' relations were elevated to a "special strategic partnership."
Lee said Korea and Italy "actually have a great deal to offer each other," adding, "I hope we can build a Korea that can help Italy and an Italy that can help Korea." He went on to say, "Recently we held detailed discussions on areas such as defense, satellites, space and advanced industries, and through this I believe we can do things that will further strengthen each other."
Meanwhile, the two countries signed a "Korea-Italy Development Cooperation MOU" to jointly pursue cooperative projects in Africa, along with a total of four memorandums of understanding (MOUs) covering cooperation in science and technology and ICT, the social and solidarity economy, and small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners. They also adopted a "2026-2030 Korea-Italy Strategic Action Plan" document to systematically implement these agreements.
