Gwangyang Civil-Government-Economic Delegation Visits Shenzhen, China for 'Economic Achievements'

Gwangyang Venture Valley Business Association - Ddakungpang 'Business Agreement'
Gwangyang Chamber of Commerce and Shenzhen International Chamber of Commerce Sign Memorandum of Understanding
Mayor Jeong Inhwa: "Efforts to Make China Visit Outcomes Visible"

Gwangyang City in Jeonnam announced on the 11th that a civilian-government-economic delegation led by Mayor Jeong In-hwa visited Shenzhen, China, for four days from the 5th to the 8th and achieved significant results in the economic sector.

Shenzhen is an economic special zone with a population of 17.66 million located near the Hong Kong border. In the early days of the 1980 reform and opening, it laid the industrial foundation through simple manufacturing, and later developed advanced manufacturing, information and communication, and electronics industries. Recently, Shenzhen has also made great progress in finance and services. It is home to global IT and electronics companies such as Tencent, DJI, Huawei, and BYD, and with its hardware manufacturing capabilities-based startup infrastructure, it is also called the "Silicon Valley of Asia."

Jeonnam Gwangyang City announced on the 11th that a public-private economic delegation led by Mayor Jeong In-hwa visited Shenzhen, China, for a four-day schedule until the 8th and achieved significant results in the economic sector. Photo by Gwangyang City

Since Gwangyang City and Shenzhen established a sister city relationship in October 2004, they have maintained a close relationship with over 100 mutual visits over 20 years, building a close trust relationship through exchanges in culture, arts, tourism, and youth sectors.

This year, Gwangyang City focused the 20th anniversary goodwill visit on economic exchanges. The civilian-government-economic delegation consisted of 22 members, including Mayor Jeong In-hwa, Jo Hyun-ok, Vice Chairman of the Gwangyang City Council, Woo Kwang-il, Chairman of the Gwangyang Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ahn Seong-su, Chairman of the Gwangyang Venture Valley Enterprise Association, officials from relevant departments of Gwangyang City, and representatives from POSCO’s external cooperation and venture support sections as well as secondary battery and venture companies.

During this visit, Gwangyang City and Shenzhen promised exchange and cooperation between companies of the two cities along with a memorandum of understanding between the Gwangyang Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Shenzhen International Chamber of Commerce. They also visited the headquarters of Huawei and Tencent to explore collaboration, and then visited the Shenzhen Cross-border E-commerce Association to discuss ways to expand the distribution of Gwangyang’s agricultural and specialty products.

The delegation then introduced Gwangyang’s full-cycle secondary battery material industry at the headquarters of BYD, a leading Chinese electric vehicle and battery manufacturer, and proposed investment attraction and cooperation with Gwangyang.

As the final schedule, the delegation visited iMakerbase, an incubating and accelerator company representative of Shenzhen called D?g?ngf?ng (大公坊), introduced Gwangyang’s venture company fostering policies and infrastructure, and the Gwangyang Venture Valley Enterprise Association signed a business agreement with D?g?ngf?ng. In-depth discussions were also held among Gwangyang City, POSCO, and D?g?ngf?ng officials ahead of the opening of Change Up Ground, a facility for fostering venture companies.

Mayor Jeong In-hwa of Gwangyang said, “Although it was a short three-night, four-day schedule, based on 20 years of friendship with Shenzhen, we have built a new relationship of practical economic cooperation. We will continue to make efforts to ensure that the results of this visit become visible.”