With the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Han Duk-soothe Prime Minister met at noon at Megaros Maximos Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Mr. Khan is making an official visit to Greece. Talks of the enlarged delegations followed. The goal is closer economic cooperation, with shipping as an example.

During the contacts, the excellent level of bilateral relations was confirmed, while regional and international issues were discussed. Greece and Korea are two maritime countries that share common values, such as adherence to International Law and the Law of the Sea.

The prospect of strengthening and deepening it was also discussed bilateral economic cooperation, following the meeting that Kyriakos Mitsotakis had in New York with the President of the Republic of Korea Yoon Suk-yeol, the recent visit of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Costas Fragogianni, to Seoul and the recent visit to Greece of a delegation of Korean companies and their meeting with the Prime Minister.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred to the prospects of the Greek economy, after the recovery of the investment grade, and the investment opportunities presented in Greece, especially in the sectors of clean energy, digital economy and technology. He particularly underlined the position of Greece as a bridge between Europe and Asia and Africa and as a gateway, economic, commercial and energy, to the European market.

Earlier, it was signed Memorandum of Cooperation Ministries of Foreign Affairs to conduct regular political consultations of top officials.

At the start of their meeting, the two leaders made the following statements:

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Mr. Prime Minister, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to Athens and thank you for this official visit. After all, the ties between our two countries go back many decades, when the Greeks fought alongside your own people for the freedom of your country. A difficult war on the Korean Peninsula.

A lot has happened since then. We have great admiration for the economic progress that Korea has made in recent decades. I would like to take the opportunity of this visit to further strengthen our economic ties. Greek shipowners are probably the biggest customers of your shipyards, but there is still a lot we can do in terms of cooperation on trade, technology, clean technology.

I look forward to our meeting and hope that we will have the opportunity to put our relations on an even better footing. So again, welcome.

Han Duk-soo: Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. First of all, I would like to convey our congratulations on your election victory. We would also like to congratulate you on your leadership skills in transforming the Greek economy into the fastest growing in Europe. Almost three times higher growth rate compared to the average growth rate of Europe. Your economy is on a really good path and we admire your leadership ability to make things so much better in such a short period of time.

Greece and Korea have a very special relationship. In 1950, many decades ago, when Korea was in a very difficult situation due to the war and aggression of North Korea, Greece rushed to help, sending more than 10,000 soldiers and 186 of them sacrificed their lives. Without these sacrifices and assistance, Korea may not have developed as it does today. Therefore, we will always thank the Greek Government and the Greek people. We are committed to working with Greece, first of all to promote our prosperity and freedom, but also to contribute to global developments.