President Lee Jae-myung held a summit with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on the 17th (local time), agreeing to further strengthen cooperation in future areas such as security and defense, energy security, climate change, and artificial intelligence (AI).
On this day, President Lee met with Prime Minister Carney at the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge in Alberta, Canada, stating, "Canada holds special significance for Korea as it is the first country I visited after taking office as president." He added, "Canada has helped us through troop deployments and has greatly assisted Korea's growth and development thus far."
The president also remarked, "Now is the time for Korea to repay what we owe to the world, including Canada."
In particular, President Lee expressed his intent to deepen security and defense cooperation through Korea's participation in Canada's submarine acquisition project.
Canada is reportedly pursuing a submarine acquisition project estimated to be worth between $20 billion and $24 billion (27.6 trillion won to 33.1 trillion won), and domestic shipbuilding companies are said to be interested in participating in this project.
Prime Minister Carney congratulated President Lee on his inauguration, stating, "The relationship between our two countries is broad and will be further strengthened through this visit (by the president)." He also noted, "I am well aware of Korea's defense industry capabilities" and said, "Let us actively cooperate for both regional and global security."
Furthermore, the two leaders expressed serious concern over the recent worsening situation in the Middle East and shared the hope that regional tensions will be alleviated soon.