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| ▲ President Lee Jae Myung (R) shakes hands with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ahead of their summit talks at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Jan. 19, 2026. (Pool photo) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ President Lee Jae Myung and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hold summit talks at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Jan. 19, 2026. (Pool photo) (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) Lee-Italy-summit
(LEAD) Lee, Italian PM Meloni hold summit talks
(ATTN: UPDATES with talks began; CHANGES headline, photo)
By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni held summit talks Monday, during which they are expected to focus on cooperation in the fields of trade, investment and cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence.
Lee greeted Meloni during a welcoming ceremony held at Cheong Wa Dae, noting that she is the first Italian leader who visited South Korea in 19 years for bilateral summit talks.
Meloni, the president of the Council of Ministers of Italy, is the first European leader to visit the nation since Lee took office in June last year. She arrived in Seoul on Saturday for a three-day official visit as part of her Asia trip, which also includes stops in Japan and Oman.
During the meeting, the two leaders are expected to discuss ways to bolster cooperation in trade, investment, artificial intelligence, defense and semiconductors, among other areas, Cheong Wa Dae said.
The talks will mark their second summit meeting after they first met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September last year.
Italy is South Korea's fourth-largest trading partner in the European Union and is visited by roughly 1 million South Koreans annually, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
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