MEXICO CITY — President Lee Jae-myung held a summit with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on the 24th and said the two countries "agreed to explore ways for Korea to contribute to the military modernization Mexico is pursuing." The talks ran a total of 119 minutes, with 44 minutes in a small-group session and 75 minutes in an expanded session.
In a joint press statement issued after the summit at the National Palace in Mexico City, Lee said the two sides had signed a memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation. "We will deepen and expand exchanges across many areas, including sharing of experience, education, training and research and development in the defense field," he said.
On an MOU on aerospace industry cooperation signed the same day, Lee said, "Through the Korea-Mexico Space Day event to be held in Mexico in November, we will identify specific projects to strengthen the competitiveness of the aerospace industry." He added that he had "asked for President Sheinbaum's particular attention and support so that Korea's advanced defense technology can lead to local production in Mexico, contributing to stronger Mexican defense industry capabilities, and so that the two countries can jointly enter third-country markets."
After outlining the 2026-2030 Korea-Mexico Joint Action Plan adopted that day, Lee said he expected that "the two countries will now continue to identify cooperation results across all areas, including trade, development cooperation, intellectual property rights, space, cultural heritage and education." He said the two sides "have finally concluded seven years of negotiations to revise the investment protection treaty, and agreed to work together so that the revised treaty can take effect as soon as possible after the necessary steps, including signing and National Assembly ratification." Lee also said the two countries had "newly established institutional foundations for smoother trade, including protection of intellectual property rights and more active sharing of information on illegally cleared goods."
The two sides also agreed to raise the level of cooperation on supply chains. "On supply chains, we also agreed to launch a dialogue channel between ministries of the two countries to discuss crude oil and key resources," Lee said. After thanking Sheinbaum for her considerable help in supplying additional volumes of crude oil, Lee said, "Above all, I also noted that concluding a trade agreement is essential to expanding trade and investment between the two countries and creating a stable business environment."
Earlier, in an interview released by the leading Mexican newspaper El Universal, Lee stressed the strong links between the two economies, saying it was "time to put in place an institutional framework befitting our solid economic cooperation," and proposed resuming negotiations on an economic agreement between Korea and Mexico and pursuing a social security agreement. The Presidential Office clarified that the talks concern an economic agreement for comprehensive cooperation covering trade, investment and supply chains, rather than a free trade agreement centered on market opening.
