President Lee Jae Myung (left) and Italian President Sergio Mattarella on June 11 shake hands before their bilateral summit at the Quirinale Palace in Rome. (Cheong Wa Dae)

By Margareth Theresia

The country's ties with Italy have received an upgrade to a "special strategic partnership" to mark the state visit of President Lee Jae Myung, the first to the European nation by a Korean head of state in 26 years.

Visiting Italy to attend the G7 summit of the world's top seven economies, President Lee on June 11 held a summit with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the latter's official residence Quirinale Palace in Rome.

President Lee thanked President Mattarella for his warm hospitality and expressed his pleasure in visiting Italy, a country with a long history and rich culture. The Korean leader added that the occasion was especially meaningful given that bilateral ties were upgraded to a special strategic partnership, eight years after both sides agreed to form a strategic partnership.

They reaffirmed that the two countries are ushering in a new era of cooperation across a range of areas including trade and investment, future industries, science and technology, and people-to-people exchanges. They also agreed that their signing of memorandums of understanding covering small and medium enterprises, science and technology, artificial intelligence, the social solidarity economy and development cooperation would further expand the scope of their collaboration.

The presidents went on to hold wide-ranging talks on advancing bilateral relations and their views on major international issues. They examined in depth the situation in the Middle East and its broader implications, as well as expressing their shared committment to restoring stability and peace in the region as soon as possible.

The two sides also agreed that peace on the Korean Peninsula contributes not only to regional security but also global stability and prosperity.

Afterward, President Lee attended a state banquet hosted by President Mattarella and met there leading figures in Italian politics, business and culture, as well as people contributing to bilateral cooperation.

President Lee on June 12 is slated to hold his third summit with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to cover in depth topics like boosting practical Seoul-Rome cooperation.

margareth@korea.kr