South Korea and Italy inked a revised pact on double taxation prevention Tuesday to help expand investment and trade between the two countries, officials said.

The pact, an amended protocol of a 1989 agreement, was signed in Seoul between First Vice Foreign Minister Ahn Ho-young and Italian Ambassador to South Korea, Sergio Mercuri.

The signing of the revised agreement came a week after President Lee Myung-bak and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, where they shared the view the new protocol would contribute to deepening bilateral relations, a foreign ministry official said.

Under the revised pact, South Korea and Italy “aim to work more closely together in exchanging tax information so as to prevent tax evasion in accordance with the OECD standards on tax transparency and exchange of information,” the official said.

The pact is expected to go into force in the first half of this year. (Yonhap News)