Chairman Cho, economic cooperation meeting in Greece... Defense and high-tech industry sales diplomacy

National Assembly Speaker Jo Jung-sik, who is on an official visit to Greece, held an economic cooperation luncheon meeting with Greek lawmakers on the 13th (local time) and began diplomatic sales in the defense and high-tech industries.

At a meeting held at a hotel in Athens, the capital of Greece, Chairman Cho mentioned the government's 'ABCDEF (Artificial Intelligence, Bio, Culture, Defense, Energy, Manufacturing) Strategy' as Korea's core economic policy and said, "I firmly believe that Korea and Greece can deeply cooperate in this field and create mutually beneficial development between the two countries."

Chairman Cho also emphasized, "There will also be cooperation in future high-tech industries such as artificial intelligence (AI) and electronic products," and added, "I think we can achieve joint development through close cooperation, especially in the shipbuilding industry between Korea and Greece, and further in the defense industry."

He added, "We hope that Korean companies and the government can contribute to strengthening maritime power so that Greece can become Europe's strongest maritime power." He added, "Korea is thinking of establishing a mutual partnership through technology transfer, local construction, and human resource training."

In response, Yanis Plakiotakis, Senior Vice-President of the Greek Parliament, said, "Over the past 50 years, 2,000 of Greece's merchant ships were built by Korean shipyards. I wish Korean shipyards would make more use of Greece's high-quality ship-related equipment and tools."

Senior Vice Chairman Plakiotakis also said, "In addition to cooperation in the shipping and shipbuilding fields, cooperation between the two countries is now expanding to many other fields," and added, "It is very important to open a direct flight between Seoul and Athens to dramatically expand exchanges between tourists from the two countries."

Then, Chairman Cho responded, "We have the institutional preparations in place to allow private airlines to operate whenever they want," and added, "When I return to Korea, I plan to talk to Korean airlines about making efforts to quickly open direct routes between Korea and Greece."

At the economic cooperation meeting on this day, Korean companies operating in Greece, including Hanwha Ocean, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, participated and announced their business plans in the region.

Hanwha Ocean, which is challenging the Greek Navy's next submarine acquisition project, attended the meeting with Eo Seong-cheol, head of the Special Ships Business Division (CEO), and Samsung Electronics Vice President of Europe Sung Il-kyung.

Prior to this, Chairman Cho paid tribute to the sacrifices of Greek veterans by visiting the Korean War Memorial and laying wreaths with Yorgos Stamatis, head of the Friendship Association of Greek and Korean Parliamentarians, and others.

Representatives Han Jeong-ae and Hwang Hee of the Democratic Party of Korea and Rep. Kang Min-guk of the People Power Party accompanied him on this trip.