The leaders of South Korea and Italy agreed Wednesday to upgrade the countries' relationship to a strategic partnership, setting a diplomatic framework to push for deeper political, security and economic cooperation.
At a summit in Rome, Italy's premier Giuseppe Conte and South Korea's president Moon Jae-in agreed that the two countries will establish vice ministerial-level diplomatic dialogue and a joint committee for industrial and energy cooperation, according to a joint statement published by Korean news agency Yonhap.
"In the summit, the two leaders agreed to upgrade the countries' ties to a strategic partnership while holding in-depth discussions on ways to increase their practical cooperation in the political and defense sectors and the development of trade, investment and science technology to jointly prepare for the fourth industrial revolution," the statement said.
Moon arrived in Rome on Tuesday for the second leg of his five-nation European tour, which earlier took him to Paris.
