1 PM on the 6th at Westin Chosun Busan, First Event of the Year
Sharing Importance and Vision of City and Regional Diplomacy, Exploring Cooperation Methods
To seek a vision for a sustainable future, Busan City and the Busan Metropolitan City Global Cities Foundation (CEO Hwang Gi-sik) will come together with Busan’s sister and friendship cooperative cities.
Busan City and the Busan Metropolitan City Global Cities Foundation will hold the “1st Busan Global City Forum” at 1 p.m. on the 6th at the Westin Chosun Busan.
This forum is being held for the first time this year and invites key figures from Busan’s sister and friendship cooperative cities as well as public diplomacy experts from central and local governments to share the importance and vision of local diplomacy under the theme “A New Paradigm of Local Diplomacy” and to explore cooperation measures.
In particular, this forum was organized to establish “local government-led international exchange” as another regional development strategy and global platform through cooperation with sister and friendship cooperative cities, which serve as a foundation for policy cooperation between cities.
Additionally, this forum holds special significance as it serves to actively promote the identity of the institution following the merger of the Busan International Exchange Foundation with the Busan English Broadcasting Foundation, resulting in the newly rebranded “Busan Metropolitan City Global Cities Foundation.”
The forum will proceed in the order of an opening ceremony, keynote presentations, and discussions.
The opening ceremony will begin with a video opening address by the Mayor of Busan, followed by video congratulatory messages from ▲ Lee Cheol-woo, Chairman of the Korea Council of Governors (Governor of Gyeongbuk Province) ▲ Carlos Victor Bungu, Ambassador of Gabon to the Republic of Korea (Chair of the Diplomatic Corps in Korea), then a welcome speech by Hwang Gi-sik, CEO of the Busan Metropolitan City Global Cities Foundation, and a keynote speech by Woo Kyung-ha, Secretary-General of the Asia-Pacific Tourism Promotion Organization (TPO).
Following this, the keynote presentations and discussions will include a special dialogue and three sessions in total.
In the special dialogue, representatives and officials from public diplomacy agencies of central and local governments will gather to share the directions of public diplomacy promotion by each local government and seek mutual cooperation measures in a meaningful session.
The public diplomacy agencies include the Gwangju International Exchange Center, Daejeon Foreign Resident Integration Support Center, Suwon International Exchange Center, Jeonbuk International Cooperation Promotion Agency, Pyeongtaek International Exchange Foundation, and the Korea Foundation for International Exchange (ASEAN Culture Center).
Session 1 will begin with a special lecture by Koo Sang-chan, former Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the sister city agreement between Busan and Shanghai, under the theme “Busan-Shanghai Second City Growth Strategy and Future Cooperation Tasks.” Following this, Yang Seung-won, Head of the Global Division at Korea Development Bank, and Wang Yongqing, Head of the Seoul Branch of Bank of Communications China, will present on “Financial Development Strategies and Cooperation Measures between Busan and Shanghai,” providing an opportunity to reexamine Busan’s role as a “Global Financial Hub City.”
In Session 2, five next-generation Chinese leaders residing in Busan will gather to share diverse opinions and ideas about Busan’s city administration and development directions for the global hub city Busan.
Session 3 will discuss ways to revitalize sustainable exchanges with distant cities under the theme “Directions of City Diplomacy for Sustainable Partnerships.” Public diplomacy experts from each city will be invited online to discuss measures to activate international exchanges and explore various cooperation plans, including discovering new exchange models with distant cities.
The distant cities include Dili (East Timor), Almaty (Kazakhstan), and Tunis (Tunisia), which are newly established sister and friendship cooperative cities.
This forum is free for anyone to participate and will be broadcast live with simultaneous Korean, English, and Chinese interpretation through the forum’s official YouTube channel.
Hwang Gi-sik, CEO of the Busan Metropolitan City Global Cities Foundation, said, “Through this forum, held for the first time this year, we expect to raise awareness of the importance of local diplomacy and collectively seek answers on what efforts we need to make for mutual cooperation between cities.”
He added, “The newly launched Busan Metropolitan City Global Cities Foundation will establish itself as a leading public diplomacy institution for branding Busan as a global hub city. We plan to present high-quality content to the citizens of Busan, so we ask for your active interest and participation.”
Mayor Park Hyung-jun said, “This year is a critical turning point for Busan to leap forward as a global hub city through hosting the 2030 World Expo.” He added, “The expanded launch of the Busan Metropolitan City Global Cities Foundation at such an important time is expected to play a significant role in broadening the horizons of local diplomacy.” He continued, “I hope that various measures to activate mutual exchanges with Busan’s sister and friendship cities such as Shanghai, Dili, and Almaty will be proposed through today’s Global City Forum.”
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