Korean, Greek leaders discuss cooperation

President Park Geun-hye held summit talks with Greek President Karolos Papoulias on December 3 in Seoul. The two presidents exchanged their opinions on measures to substantially boost cooperation in politics, business, trade, investment, IT, infrastructure, defense and tourism. Both leaders also exchanged their views on regional issues involving the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia and the EU. President Papoulias is the first Greek leader to make a state visit to Korea since Korea and Greece established diplomatic relations in April 1961. 

President Park expressed her appreciation to her Greek counterpart for the Greek soldiers who sacrificed their lives during the Korean War (1950-1953) as this year mark the 60th anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War. Both leaders agreed that Korea and Greece have developed friendly cooperation across a wide range of sectors and agreed to further extend bilateral cooperation in the future. 

President Park emphasized that Greece is the largest importer of Korean ships. She hoped that the two countries could support and take an interest in deepening the mutually beneficial cooperation seen in the shipbuilding and marine transportation sectors. Between the year 2010 and August 2013, Greek businesses have made the most orders for new ships, amounting to nearly 25 percent of the total shipbuilding orders Korean firms received. She praised the Greek government’s ongoing policy efforts to overcome the economic crisis and urged the Greek president to take interest in and to support Korean firms so that they can participate in various infrastructure construction projects in Greece, such as airports, ports and railroads. President Park also called for the Greek leader to promptly ratify the Korea-EU free trade agreement (FTA), while explaining that the free trade pact would benefit both Korea and all EU member countries by extending cooperation in trade and investment. 

President Park thanked Greece for its consistent support of Seoul in regard to issues involving the Korean Peninsula. The two leaders reaffirmed their will to jointly respond to global issues such as cybersecurity and climate change. They discussed ways to enhance Korea-EU cooperation on the regional and international stages. Both presidents discussed measures to boost Korea-Greece cooperation in multilateral frameworks such as the U.N. President Papoulias’s Korea visit is expected to help bilateral cooperation deepen based on the traditional blood alliance between Korea and Greece.