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Busan to keep up efforts for Expo bid until final moment
President Yoon Suk Yeol laughs as first lady Kim Keon Hee hangs a key ring with a catchphrase, "Busan is ready," on SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's crutch, during an official reception for members of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) in Paris in this June file photo. Courtesy of presidential office
By Park Jae-hyuk
Vote for Expo’s host city less than 1 month away
Korea will continue with its all-out efforts to support Busan’s bid to host the World Expo 2030, until the election for the international event’s host city, which is now less than a month away, according to government and industry officials, Sunday.
Bracing for a neck-and-neck competition scenario with the Saudi capital of Riyadh, Korea’s government officials and business leaders are traveling around the world to secure at least one more vote from the 182 members of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, a co-chair of the bid committee, departed on Sunday for a seven-day trip to Malawi, Togo and Cameroon in Africa and then to Norway and Finland in Europe. The 74-year-old prime minister’s journey comes just a few months after he visited Latin American countries and other European nations to seek their support for Busan's bid.
“Through high-ranking meetings during the latest trip, we will strengthen bilateral ties with each country and make every effort to support Busan’s bid,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Jang Sung-min, the senior presidential secretary for future-orientated strategies, is also staying in Paris as a special presidential envoy, tasked with persuading the ambassadors of the BIE member countries.
Beyond the political and diplomatic circles, executives and high-ranking officials from Korea’s major conglomerates have also been busy supporting Busan’s bid.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, another co-chair of the bid committee, paid a two-day visit to Vietnam with the group’s top executives, Friday, to promote Busan and to enhance economic ties with the Southeast Asian country.
The SK executives went on the trip right after they traveled around France and seven African countries in October to ask them to vote for Busan. They also plan to visit European and Latin American countries next month.
“It seems like I've been spending more time on planes recently than on the ground,” Chey wrote on Instagram.
Other business tycoons have recently been cautious about disclosing their overseas destinations, so as to prevent Saudi Arabia from appealing to the countries they visited. However, they have also been utilizing the global networks of their companies in promoting Busan as a host city.
LG Electronics, for example, installed a giant box-shaped structure resembling its washing and drying machines, in front of the Centre Georges-Pompidou in Paris, Saturday, with a banner that reads, “LG supports Busan’s bid for World EXPO 2030 Busan, Korea.”
Samsung, Hyundai Motor, Lotte and other Korean conglomerates will also continue their respective campaigns to support Busan until the host city is selected a month later.
On Nov. 28, representatives from the 182 BIE member countries will cast ballots during the BIE General Assembly in Paris to choose which city ― Busan, Riyadh or Rome ― should host the global event in 2030.
The three cities will deliver their final presentations on the voting date.
Busan seeks to emphasize until the last moment that it can provide solution platforms addressing humanity’s complex and urgent challenges, if the second-largest city of Korea hosts World Expo 2030.
The Korean city is betting on the possibility that Riyadh, which is seen as the strongest candidate at this moment, fails to secure more than two-thirds of votes in the first round of voting. In that case, the candidate with the least votes will be eliminated and a run-off vote will be held.
Busan anticipates defeating Riyadh in the second round of voting, once Rome is eliminated after the first round. If there are only two candidates left, a simple majority of votes cast is required to determine the host city.
“We are trying to make more countries support Busan in the second round of voting, even if they will not support the city in the first round,” Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon told reporters on Oct. 12. “After President Yoon Suk Yeol appealed for support for Busan during the recent U.N. General Assembly, more countries told us that they would vote for Korea in the second round.”