Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun's Official Visit to Two European Countries: Slovenia and the United Kingdom

Signing of Sister City Cooperation Agreements between Koper City, Slovenia and Liverpool City Region, UK

On the 22nd, Discussions on Busan-Koper Port Shipping and Logistics Cooperation with Koper Port and Local Corporation CEOs

On the 27th,

Park Hyung-jun, Mayor of Busan, will visit two European countries, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, from the 22nd to the 29th local time.

This tour aims to strengthen mutual cooperation through the signing of friendship and cooperation city agreements with Koper City in Slovenia, a major European city, and the Liverpool City Region in the UK, and to create practical economic cooperation relationships with these cities in fields such as shipping and logistics, innovation, and research and development.

Koper City is the largest port city in Slovenia and serves as the largest maritime logistics gateway for Central and Eastern Europe from South Korea, thanks to its geographical advantages and excellent railway and port infrastructure.

The Liverpool City Region, known as the city of The Beatles and football, is a coalition of six cities (Halton City, Knowsley City, Liverpool City, St Helens City, Sefton City, Wirral City) established in 2014. Since March last year, it has been jointly promoting the Korea-UK Innovation Twins Project with our city.

The Innovation Twins Project refers to a mutual research and cooperation promotion project through one-to-one matching between Korean and UK cities (local governments), such as Busan and Liverpool.

During this tour, Mayor Park Hyung-jun plans to promote mutual development with Koper City and the Liverpool City Region through ▲ signing a friendship and cooperation city agreement between Busan and Koper City, Slovenia ▲ meetings with CEOs of Koper Port and local corporations ▲ signing a friendship and cooperation city agreement between Busan and the Liverpool City Region, UK ▲ and visiting the site of the Korea-UK Innovation Twins Project.

At 6 p.m. local time on the 22nd, Mayor Park will sign a friendship and cooperation city agreement between Busan and Koper City at Koper City Hall in Slovenia.

Through this, they plan to strengthen relations between Busan Port and Koper Port, promote economic and cultural cooperation, facilitate human exchanges, and share best practices related to information and communication technology (IT) and digitalization across various fields.

Additionally, meetings with CEOs of Koper Port and local corporations will discuss practical economic cooperation measures in shipping and logistics, including joint port development between Busan Port and Koper Port.

Afterward, Mayor Park will move to the UK and sign a friendship and cooperation city agreement between Busan and the Liverpool City Region at the Liverpool City Region headquarters at 9:30 a.m. local time on June 27.

Once this friendship and cooperation city agreement is signed, the two cities will collaborate in various innovative fields such as digital and smart cities, clean energy and carbon neutrality, and health and science.

Mayor Park will also visit the digital innovation center and materials innovation factory in the Liverpool City Region, where the Korea-UK Innovation Twins Project is being promoted, to discuss economic cooperation measures in innovation and research and development between the two cities.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun of Busan said, “Through this tour of two European countries, Slovenia and the UK, we will further strengthen mutual cooperation with major European cities and create practical economic cooperation relationships with these cities through joint port development between Busan Port and Koper Port and joint projects between Busan and the Liverpool City Region.”

With the signing of friendship and cooperation city agreements with these two cities, the city is expected to establish a solid foundation for active urban diplomacy, having formed sister and friendship cooperation relationships with a total of 10 cities in 10 countries since establishing the 2030 Expo Promotion Headquarters in August last year.