By Diplomacy Journal Lee Jon-young

President Lee Jae-myung held his first bilateral meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in New York on September 24 (local time), who was attending the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly.

Prime Minister Meloni stated that the two countries have been developing balanced cooperative relations across various fields, including trade and investment.

She assessed that the potential for expanding economic cooperation between the two nations is very high, as demonstrated by events such as the successful Korea-Italy Business Forum held in Seoul in early September, which saw participation from numerous companies from both countries.

President Lee stated that the two nations share commonalities in various aspects, such as geographical location and national character. He proposed that, based on their strategic partnership, the governments and businesses of both countries deepen and develop mutually beneficial cooperation in fields like AI and defense.

Prime Minister Meloni assessed Korea's economic and cultural potential as very high and expressed her hope to visit Korea at the earliest possible time to concretize practical cooperation. She also invited President Lee Jae-myung to visit Italy at his convenience.

President Lee stated that to expand practical cooperation, sufficient consultations should be held in each cooperative field to ensure that the mutual exchanges between the two leaders yield meaningful results.