President Lee Jae Myung (right) on Nov. 3 shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at their bilateral summit held at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul's Jongno-gu District. (Cheong Wa Dae)

By Hong Angie

President Lee Jae Myung on Nov. 3 hosted a bilateral summit at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul's Jongno-gu District with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who arrived on a state visit to Korea, and agreed to raise their strategic partnership.

Ahead of the 70th anniversary of official relations between both sides next year, their talks provided an important opportunity to expand the scope of cooperation to key future-oriented sectors like energy, science and technology, and natural resources and minerals.

In a joint media statement afterward, President Lee said he hoped that the talks further strengthened the substance of the bilateral strategic partnership and would lead to more in-depth discussions that improve the lives of people in both countries.

In response, President Erdogan called Korea "a friend and ally bound by blood" in all sectors with whom Turkiye is advancing relations.

The meeting produced practical progress in industrial cooperation in fields like nuclear energy and defense.

On nuclear energy, President Lee explained the rationale behind the signing of a bilateral memorandum of understanding (MOU) on financial cooperation in nuclear power projects. Building on the MOU on nuclear energy cooperation that both sides signed last year in November, he said collaboration is proceeding smoothly in the Sinop Nuclear Power Plant project in Turkiye, including site assessments and the operation of a joint working group.

Seoul will also support the proactive participation of Korean companies in the venture, he added.

Cooperation in the defense industry will also expand. Building on the Altay tank project, a prime example of bilateral defense cooperation, the two leaders agreed to broaden collaboration in this sector.

President Lee said he and President Erdogan agreed to bolster joint production and technological cooperation and explore together opportunities for Korean and Turkish companies to jointly enter markets in third countries.

They also signed new MOUs on energy, science and technology, natural resources and mining, and investment, pledged to raise the joint committee for their free trade agreement to the ministerial level and reinforce the basis for broader economic cooperation.

The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to peace on the Korean Peninsula by agreeing to maintain close communication not just on cooperation in multilateral forums like the United Nations and MIKTA, an informal group of middle powers Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkiye and Australia, but also jointly seeking peaceful resolutions to the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East.

shong9412@korea.kr