By Lee Jon Young

President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is in New York to attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held his first summit with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić since taking office on Sept. 22.

During the meeting, President Yoon requested Serbia's support for the 2030 Busan World Expo and exchanged views on ways to develop bilateral relations.

Noting that the summit was held following the recent visit of Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić (Sept. 8-11), the two leaders evaluated the active communication between the two countries and called for further activation of high-level exchanges.

The two leaders applauded the recent signing of the Investment Guarantee Agreement (July 8) between the two countries, and suggested that negotiations on the Korea-Serbia Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) be initiated as soon as possible to further solidify the institutional basis for economic cooperation.

President Yoon said that Korea has been trying to promote development cooperation projects that meet the needs of Serbia, and will continue to support the capacity building of the Serbian government in areas such as ICT and public administration where Korea has strengths. 

President Vučić expressed his appreciation for Korea's sharing of experiences and technologies through the operation of the e-Government Cooperation Center and the Information Access Center, and expressed his hope for continued cooperation in these areas.

President Vučić expressed his willingness to respond to all the cooperation proposals raised by President Yoon, and suggested exploring cooperation in battery production in connection with Serbia's scarce resources such as lithium.

The two leaders agreed that food security has become increasingly important since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, and suggested exploring concrete cooperation in the food sector between Serbia and South Korea, both of which are major grain exporters.