Moon, French premier agree to boost bilateral ties, exchange

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe agreed Tuesday to further expand their countries‘ bilateral ties, through a possible increase in the number of direct flights to and from the countries.

Moon is on a four-day state visit that will end later in the day when he heads to Italy. He earlier held a bilateral summit with French President Emmanuel Macron.

“While noting that our country’s introduction of France‘s express train (TGV) in the 1990s and other joint economic projects, such as the joint development of a satellite in the 2000s, provided great benefits to the people of both countries, President Moon and Prime Minister Philippe agreed to continue exploring new areas of cooperation while continuously expanding trade and investment between the two countries,” Moon’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said of the Moon-Philippe meeting at the official residence of the French prime minister.

President Moon especially expressed hope for increased trade between the countries, also asking France to make sure the EU safeguard measures on steel would not adversely affect the mutually beneficial trade relations between his country and France.

Moon and Philippe called for increased cooperation in areas including climate change, artificial intelligence and information and communication technology to better prepare both countries for the fourth industrial revolution, Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release.

To further increase the exchange of visitors between the countries, the leaders agreed to work for a rise in the number of direct flights between the countries, it said, adding that there are currently 23 weekly flights between the two countries. (Yonhap)