Seoul, Nov 21 (IANS ) Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul will fly to Italy next week to attend the foreign ministers' meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced countries, Seoul's foreign ministry said on Thursday.
The two-day trip to Fiuggi, the venue for the G7 gathering from Monday, comes at the invitation of Italy, this year's chair for G7, during which Cho is expected to hold broad discussions with his foreign counterparts on regional and global issues, ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said, Yonhap news agency reported.
"Our country, as a member of the G7 Plus, is actively pursuing cooperation with G7 like-minded countries," Lee said and added, "We take this invitation as an evaluation of our country's status and role and we plan to continue to expand such cooperation going forward."
Cho will take part in sessions related to the Indo-Pacific issues and discuss regional situations, including the growing military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, Lee said.
Expanding cooperation with G7 countries in key security issues is also expected to be a topic for discussion.
Cho also plans to use the meeting to hold bilateral talks with his counterparts of the participating countries.
G7 comprises the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Italy.
The G7 chair country can invite other non-member countries or international organisations at its discretion to contribute to the discussions, in the form of 'expanded talks' during the summit or foreign ministers' meetings.
In May last year, Japan invited President Yoon Suk Yeol to the G7 summit in Hiroshima. In 2021, Britain invited South Korea to both the summit and the foreign ministers' meeting.