President Lee Myung-bak, accompanied by First Lady Kim Yoon-ok, is scheduled to attend the expanded G8 summit to be held in L''Aquila, Italy July 9-10 after making an official visit to Poland July 7-8. After the G8 Summit, the First Couple will pay an official visit to Sweden July 11-13. They will embark on the eight-day trip on July 7 and return home on July 14.

Official Visit to Poland

On July 7, President Lee will arrive in Warsaw, Poland, the first leg of his trip. The President will attend the Korean Products Show 2009, Warsaw and the Korea-Poland Business Forum on the first day. On the following day, President Lee will hold a summit with Polish President Lech Kaczyński, which will be followed by a meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

 
At the summit, President Lee and President Kaczyński are expected to give a high evaluation to progress in bilateral relations on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of diplomatic ties. They will also discuss ways to promote the qualitative growth of the future-oriented partnership established in 2004. In the back-to-back discussions, the leaders of the two countries are anticipated to actively seek ways to boost mutually beneficial cooperation in various projects for building an energy infrastructure, including the construction of an LNG terminal and nuclear power plants. They will also discuss how to bolster collaboration in the defense industry.
 

Participation in the Expanded G8 Summit

President Lee will travel by way of Rome to arrive in L’Aquila, Italy on July 9 where the G8 Summit 2009 is to be held. During the stay, the President is scheduled to take part in the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change attended by the leaders from 17 countries. In addition, he will also participate in other forums on trade and food security along with other participating leaders and heads of international organizations.

In particular at the forum, President Lee will delineate the Korean Government’s endeavors aimed at efficiently dealing with climate change and its strong commitment to strengthening global collaboration to that end as he did on the occasion of the Expanded G8 summit in Toyako, Japan, last year.

 
In addition, the President is scheduled to hold a series of bilateral meetings with the participating leaders of the other major economies to exchange ideas on matters of mutual concern, including issues pending between the two countries and the security environment surrounding the Korean Peninsula in the aftermath of North Korea’s recent nuclear test.     

 
Official Visit to Sweden

President Lee will be making an official visit to Sweden July 11-13. He is scheduled to attend a luncheon with King Carl XVI Gustaf on his first day in Stockholm. The summit with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on July 13 will aim at strengthening substantive bilateral cooperation. Also on the itinerary are a Korea-Sweden CEO gathering and a dinner for Swedish citizens who contributed to the enhancement of bilateral friendship.

 
At the summit, the two leaders are expected to focus on solidifying collaboration in those areas where both countries have a competitive edge and thus produce a synergy effect in the international market. The two nations excel in IT and other high technologies as well as having expertise in environment-friendly knowledge and atomic energy. Also on the agenda is a signing of an agreement on the protection of bilateral military secrecy.

 
The Korean Government believes that the presidential visit will be a good opportunity for the two countries to expedite the pending Korea-EU FTA negotiations as Sweden is to assume the chair of the EU in the latter half of this year. The two leaders will take up other important issues conducive to solidifying Korea-EU ties as well.