The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will make an official visit to South Korea this week, where he will participate in a business forum, visit the future headquarters of the Cervantes Institute in Seoul and will be received by President Yoon Suk-yeol.
Pedro Sánchez will leave Wednesday for South Korea from Bali, Indonesia, after attending the G20 Summit as a guest (in which Yoon Suk-yeol will also participate as a full member). The main objectives of this trip to Seoul, according to Moncloa sources, are to strengthen bilateral relations, to take advantage of the network of commercial contacts to attract investments to Spain and to consolidate contacts between societies (with special attention to tourism and the presence of the Spanish language). The head of the Executive will arrive in Seoul accompanied by a delegation of Spanish businessmen and by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto.
The agenda will begin on Thursday, November 17, with a visit to the microchip production plant of the multinational Samsung, a tour of the future headquarters of the Cervantes Institute in Seoul (scheduled to open in 2023) and the closing of the XIV Spain-Korea Tribune, a civil society forum promoted by Casa Asia, the Korea Foundation and the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) and in which around 50 important personalities from the political, economic and academic fields of the two countries will participate under the slogan New Geopolitical Dynamics of Europe and Asia-Pacific. At the closing ceremony, Pedro Sánchez will deliver a speech on the future of relations between South Korea and Spain.
The following day, Sánchez will make a wreath offering for the victims of the avalanche during Halloween celebrations in Seoul, which left at least 153 people dead. He will then be received by President Yoon Suk-yeol (in office since May this year), who has already visited Madrid and was received by King Philip VI on June 29 on the occasion of his participation, as a guest, in the NATO Summit. South Korea and Spain raised their bilateral relations to the level of “strategic partnership” in 2021, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
At the end of the meeting, the two leaders will address a joint press conference, without questions. The two governments will also sign a collaboration agreement between their Diplomatic Schools and another private agreement between the Spanish Export Credit Agency (CESCE) and its South Korean counterpart. On the same day, Pedro Sánchez will participate in a Business Meeting organized by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, the Secretary of State for Trade -through ICEX Spain Export and Investment- and the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), in collaboration with the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
