Mayor Lee Gang-deok's 'Pohang Marketing' Succeeds in Global Market

Laying the Foundation for Overseas Network Expansion and Hosting Large-Scale International Conferences

Confirmed: UGIH Subsidiary Meeting 'S.I.W Pohang' to be Held in Early Next Year

Hyundai Steel Plant 2 Shutdown Managed to Prevent Impact on Local Economy

Mayor Lee Kang-deok of Pohang emphasized on the 19th, “Through the expansion of the global network, we will leap forward as an international MICE industry city ‘Pohang’ with a unique brand recognized worldwide beyond Pohang, Korea, and as a global cultural and arts tourism hub city ‘Pohang.’”

Lee Kang-deok, Mayor of Pohang, participating in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Baku, Azerbaijan. Provided by Pohang City

On this day, Mayor Lee visited the city hall briefing room and explained the achievements from his visits to Baku, Azerbaijan, and Istanbul, T?rkiye, from the 11th to the 18th.

Mayor Lee stated, “By participating in the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Baku, we shared Pohang’s excellent cases of achieving carbon neutrality with the world, which became an opportunity to promote Pohang’s competitiveness externally. We firmly laid the groundwork for attracting large-scale international conferences by communicating with representatives of various governments, international organizations, and private companies.”

During this business trip, Pohang City succeeded in attracting the S.I.W Pohang meeting, a subsidiary conference of the United Nations Climate Change Global Innovation Hub (UGIH), scheduled for the first half of 2025. This is a project meeting of UGIH, a UN climate action platform, with over 100 participants from 12 countries discussing urban challenges and proposing solutions.

Additionally, to attract meetings of international organizations including the UN, Mayor Lee met consecutively with key figures such as Emani Kuma, Deputy Secretary-General of ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability), Massamba Thioye, Head of the UN Global Innovation Hub, and Tsuyong Zhou, Deputy Director-General of UNIDO, expanding networks and significantly increasing the possibility of hosting international conferences.

The city received proposals from ICLEI to host the Resilient Cities Asia Pacific conference and was requested to share Pohang’s excellent climate change response cases at the ICLEI-hosted Climate Assembly scheduled for April next year.

In T?rkiye, a new global partnership was established by signing a memorandum of understanding for exchange and cooperation with Beyo?lu District, a city of culture and arts. The two cities agreed to mutually cooperate in cultural and artistic creation and exhibition exchanges, regional tourism programs, and private and human exchanges, and decided to expedite the signing of a sister city friendship agreement for this purpose.

Mayor Lee also visited Istanbul University, a world-renowned university in T?rkiye, introduced Pohang’s achievements in the great industrial transformation, and appointed students from the Korean Language and Literature Department, who have a strong interest in Korean culture, as ‘Pohang Global SNS Supporters.’

Mayor Lee Kang-deok said, “We will explore various ways to promote Pohang worldwide so that Pohang’s unique culture and tourism resources can expand onto the global stage. Through the expansion of global partnerships, we will further enhance Pohang’s competitiveness in the international community.”

On this day, regarding the crisis in the local steel industry such as the suspension of operations at Hyundai Steel’s 2nd plant, Mayor Lee stated that he would strongly urge the government to prepare urgent measures to overcome the steel industry crisis, extend the special support area for small and medium-sized enterprises, and designate a special area for industrial crisis response.

He also plans to form a dedicated ‘Industrial Crisis Response TF Team’ to discover support policies and hold an emergency meeting with companies and related organizations on the 20th to seek solutions.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok said, “The crisis in the local steel industry could affect population decline as well as the regional economy and jobs, so we will focus all administrative power on establishing a cooperative system with related organizations and preparing countermeasures.”