(Adnkronos) – Foreign minister Antonio Tajani, and South Korea’s president Lee Jae-Myung were late on Friday due to open a bilateral High-Level Economic Forum in Rome. South Korean trade, industry and resources minister Kim Jung-kwan will also speak at the event which is hosting leaders from the two countries’ top industrial and business entities, according to a foreign ministry statement.
The forum’s aim is to strengthen bilateral economic partnership based on innovation, sustainability, and the security of global value chains, the statement said.
The gathering also seeks to intensify trade and investment in the strategic sectors of semiconductors, artificial intelligence, space, infrastructure, energy, and sustainable mobility, the statement added.
Earlier on Friday, premier Giorgia Meloni and Lee agreed to deepen bilateral ties and memorandums on advanced technology, ICT, and development cooperation, the social and solidarity economy, and micro, small and medium enterprises, and were signed on the sidlines of their talks.
The economic forum is part of the new Italy-Korea 2026-2030 Strategic Action Plan , adopted during Lee’s visit to Rome, which identifies semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and the energy transition as the main pillars of bilateral cooperation, according to the statement.
South Korea, included in the Asia-Pacific Focus of Italy’s Action Plan for exports to high-potential non-EU markets, is the third-largest destination market for Italian exports in the Asia-Pacific region. From 2019 to 2025, trade between Italy and the Republic of Korea climbed 26.54%, while exports rose 21.34%, said the statement.
Italy’s trade agency ICE president Matteo Zoppas, main private business lobby Confindustria vice-president Giorgio Marsiaj, and Korean Industries Federation President Jin Roy Ryu, top executives from major Korean industrial groups, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group, LG Chem, POSCO, Naver, Korea Aerospace Industries, and LS Group were set to take part in the forum, the stateement noted.
Confindustria will lead a delegatoin of top Italian companies such as Eni-Enilive, Webuild, Fincantieri, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Sparkle, and Ferrari, along with representatives from the main national supply chains in advanced mechanical engineering, electronics, aerospace, agri-food, cosmetics, and fashion, the statement concluded.
Ahead of the forum, Lee received a parting gun salute at Italy’s Qurinal presidential palace as he bid farewell to head of state Sergio Mattarella, who hosted him for an official lunch at the Qurinal on Thursday.
Lee also held talks on Thursday with Italy’s parliament speaker Lorenzo Fontana to look at ways of further strengthening bilateral ties and cooperation between their countries’ parliaments.
