President Lee Jae Myung on June 23 speaks at a dinner for diplomatic personnel and representatives from international organizations at the garden Nokjiwon of Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul.
By Hong Angie
Photos = Cheong Wa Dae
President Lee Jae Myung from July 24 will start an 11-day tour of the U.S., Brazil, Chile and Argentina with a stopover scheduled in Germany before his return home on Aug. 3.
This trip's purpose is to solidify global collaboration in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors, two key drivers of Korea's future growth, and diversify supply chains and form economic security partnerships with key Latin American states rich in natural resources.
On the first stop of his tour from July 24-25, President Lee will visit San Francisco for a series of talks with the heads of major global AI giants: Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Hock Tan of Broadcom.
The president will later attend the San Francisco AI Summit, where he plans to announce the acceleration of the three major mega-projects announced by his administration last month for semiconductors, AI data centers and physical AI. He will also seek to reinforce global cooperation with Silicon Valley's major tech companies.
On July 25, President Lee will attend the Silicon Valley Venture Investment Meetup to promote collaboration with world-leading global venture capital companies, link the venture investment ecosystems of Korea and the U.S., and lay the groundwork for Korean startups to attract overseas investment.
President Lee Jae Myung (right) and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Feb. 23 pose for photos during their bilateral summit at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul.
From July 26, President Lee will start his South American tour of Brazil, Chile and Argentina to bolster economic cooperation.
His first stop is a state visit to Brazil from July 26-29 at the invitation of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Upon arrival in Brasilia, he will attend a welcoming reception.
On July 27, President Lee will attend summit talks, a signing ceremony for memorandums of understanding (MOU) and an official luncheon at the official presidential residence of Palacio da Alvorada. He will later fly to Sao Paulo to attend a meeting with Korean residents there and a bilateral business roundtable.
July 29-30 will see the chief executive pay an official visit to Chile for talks with newly inaugurated President Jose Antonio Kast. The two leaders on July 30 will discuss raising bilateral cooperation through events at the presidential residence La Moneda Palace including an official welcoming ceremony, their summit, MOU signing ceremony and joint news conference.
President Lee will also be the first Korean head of state to visit Argentina in 22 years. On July 31, he will attend a summit with Argentine President Javier Milei at the presidential palace of Casa Rosada and conclude his Latin American tour with a dinner along with ethnic Koreans there.
"This tour's focus is on expanding trade and investment with key South American economic powers and opening new markets," National Security Office Director Wi Sung-lac on July 22 told a news briefing. "We will discuss resuming negotiations on a Korea-Mercosur trade agreement with Brazil and Argentina and modernizing the free trade agreement with Chile to expand our corporate entry into South America markets and broaden our diplomatic horizons to the Global South."
President Lee on Aug. 2 will stop by Frankfurt, Germany, for an event with ethnic Koreans there before returning home the next day.
shong9412@korea.kr
