South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong agreed Sunday to establish a strategic partnership between their countries and expand cooperation across various sectors, including defense and trade. 

The leaders announced the launch of the strategic partnership during a joint press conference at the presidential office following their summit talks, which took place during Wong’s official visit to South Korea.

“Our two countries have many similarities, in that we have both achieved remarkable growth based on human capital and an open free trade order despite limited land, scarce resources and challenging geopolitical environment,” Lee said.

The two sides reached their first agreement on exports of beef and pork from Jeju Island to Singapore and further agreed to deepen cooperation in areas of security, defence, artificial intelligence, advanced technology, people-to-people exchanges and transnational crimes, like online scams, Yonhap news agency reported.

Under the strategic partnership, the two countries will step up cooperation to better tackle global challenges, such as climate change and transnational crimes, amid the wavering international order that has long underpinned global growth and prosperity, according to the presidential office.

Wong noted significant potential for collaboration in areas of the green industry, digital industry, security and defense, and expressed full support for South Korea’s efforts to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.

During the meeting, the two sides also signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on digital cooperation, logistics and shipping, culture and sports.

Wong is in Seoul after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and related events held in the southeastern city of Gyeongju last week.