Suwon City Strengthens Cooperation with Freiburg, Germany... Delegation Including Mayor Horn Visits Korea

The city of Suwon in Gyeonggi Province is strengthening its cooperation with Freiburg, Germany.

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of their sister city relationship, a delegation including Martin Werner Walter Horn, the mayor of Freiburg, visited Suwon on the 15th. They held a meeting with Suwon Mayor Lee Jae-jun and promised to continue exchanges and cooperation, Suwon announced on the 16th.

Mayor Martin Horn said, "We want to expand exchanges in various fields such as environment, climate crisis response, sports, culture and arts, education, and youth," adding, "Active exchanges will bring many good ideas to develop the cities."

Mayor Lee Jae-jun responded, "The two cities have been actively engaged for 10 years, and we should share good policies through more proactive exchanges going forward," and expressed hope for increased human exchanges as well.

Suwon Mayor Lee Jae-jun warmly shakes hands with Martin Werner Walter Horn, Mayor of Freiburg, on the 15th. Photo by Suwon City

Mayor Lee Jae-jun appointed Mayor Martin Horn as an honorary mayor of Suwon for one day and presented him with a certificate of appointment.

As honorary mayor of Suwon, Mayor Martin Horn approved the 'Our Home Carbon Monitoring Promotion Plan.'

The Our Home Carbon Monitoring project is a citizen participation program where residents voluntarily practice carbon neutrality by checking their energy usage and carbon emissions?including electricity, gas, water, heating, and hot water?via a smartphone app, as well as the carbon emission rankings within their apartment complexes.

Mayor Martin Horn said, "I hope the Our Home Carbon Monitoring project spreads nationwide and becomes a global standard model for carbon neutrality," and praised the Suwon city officials for coming up with such an excellent idea.

Suwon is also promoting exchanges between the two cities' professional football teams, Suwon FC and SC Freiburg.

Mayor Martin Horn gifted Mayor Lee Jae-jun an SC Freiburg uniform, and Mayor Lee gave Mayor Martin Horn a Suwon FC uniform. Suwon FC General Manager Choi Soon-ho and SC Freiburg Marketing and Finance Director Oliver Leki were present.

The Freiburg delegation concluded their schedule on the 16th by visiting Suwon’s Urban Safety Integrated Center, Samsung Innovation Museum, Suwon World Cup Stadium, Bongnyeongsa Temple, and Yeongheung Arboretum.

Suwon and Freiburg established their sister city relationship in November 2015.