President Lee Jae-myung will visit France from the 6th to the 9th at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, with plans to broaden the base for Korean content in the European market as co-chair of the Lumiere Summit, an international gathering on film and video.
National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac announced the itinerary at a briefing at Cheong Wa Dae on the 4th. Lee will arrive in France on the afternoon of the 6th and attend the Lumiere Summit in Saint-Paul-de-Vence in southern France the following day as co-chair alongside Macron. From the 8th, he will begin a two-day state bilateral visit in Paris. After attending an official welcoming ceremony hosted by the French government, he will hold a one-on-one luncheon with Macron at the Elysee Palace. Expanded summit talks with delegations from both countries are to follow. Lee will then join a Korea-France business roundtable with about 20 companies from the two countries.
On the final day, the 9th, he will meet French National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet, hold a luncheon with the Korean community in France and receive Mathias Cormann, secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, before returning home.
Wi said the trip would provide an opportunity to give substance to the "global strategic partnership" with France and add new momentum to South Korea's broader diplomacy toward Europe. He added that the two countries would expand cooperation in advanced technologies including artificial intelligence, space, nuclear power and biotechnology, and further solidify the foundation for sustainable development of bilateral ties.
The two leaders are strengthening exchanges as the countries mark the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year. It will be Lee's first face-to-face meeting with Macron in about three months, since the Group of Seven summit in Evian, France, in June. Macron visited South Korea in April.
