Busan mayor to fly to Central, South America to promote city's bid for World Expo

Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, second from left, poses for a photo with members of the city's delegation to Eurasian countries at Busan Station, Tuesday. The 55-member delegation left Busan Station on Tuesday for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Belgium and France to promote the city's bid to host World Expo 2030. Newsis

By Ko Dong-hwan

In hopes of clutching the much-coveted crown of hosting World Expo 2030, Busan is actively seeking support from countries around the world through promotional activities. Busan Metropolitan City said that Mayor Park Heong-joon plans to leave for Central and South America on Sept. 25 for a promotional tour through to Oct. 5. An official from Expo Bid Planning Division under the city government's 2030 Expo Bid Promotion Headquarters told The Korea Times that a delegation of representatives of the country's central government, Busan city government and private enterprises will visit the region. The division is currently grouping attendees to join the tour, according to the official.

The trip comes less than two months before the third round of presentations by candidate cities takes place in Paris, where the Bureau of International des Expositions (BIE) is headquartered. Busan has been competing with Riyadh and Rome for the bid.

The upcoming competition is expected to narrow down the candidates to Busan and Riyadh. The Saudi Arabian capital started promoting the bid almost a year earlier than the Korean city and has been steadily garnering international support, including from China, neighboring Islamic nations and African countries.

On Tuesday, another Korean delegation of left for Almaty, Kazakhstan. It is the first leg of the group's 15-day trip to Eurasia that will also stop in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek, Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent, Brussels and Paris.

The delegation held a departure ceremony that day at Busan Station, which the country considers as one of its main gateways connecting visitors to the country to Central Asia and further to Europe. Busan City Council Chairman Ahn Sung-min, seeing the trip's significance in raising the possibility of realizing the city's bid to host the expo, led the delegation himself. Mayor Park and Ayan Kashabayev, the Consul General of Kazakhstan in the city, attended the ceremony to see off the delegation.

The 55-member delegation on the Eurasian trip is made up of university students, local entrepreneurs as well as representatives of the city government, local residents supporting Expo 2030, and members of Busan Cultural Foundation and Busan Economic Promotion Agency.

Korea's First Vice-Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Jang Young-jin presents Busan's report on planning hosting of World Expo 2030 to the Bureau International des Expositions Secretary General Dimitri Kerkentzes at the BIE's office building in Paris, Sept. 7. Newsis

In Almaty, they will sign a partnership deal with the city government and host an exchange meeting with local university students there to discuss the expo. The Korean university students will continue hosting exchange meetings with local peers in Bishkek and Tashkent.

In Paris, which will be the trip's final destination, the delegation will exhibit Korea's cultural contents on streets as well as in diplomatic settings. They will host Busan Day in Paris, showcasing K-pop random play dances and flashmobs. On Sept. 23, the delegation will invite 80 guests from the BIE and Paris' local influencers of Korean cultural contents to the city's Korean Cultural Center. Those who come are expected to experience various Korean cultural exports including food, Busan's local tourism hotspots and a collaboration between K-pop performers and proponents of gugak, Korean traditional music.

A special group of 15 entrepreneurs from Busan, named Silkroad Pioneers, will also meet locals in Almaty to encourage them to engage in trade with Korea. The efforts aim to galvanize Korea's exchanges with the central Asian country through economy, culture and manpower.

"Busan is the starting and ending point of the Eurasian region," said Mayor Park at Busan Station on Tuesday. "Once there come routes opening ways to the Arctic, Busan will no longer be a Far East city at some corner but the center of the grand region. This Eurasian trip by our citizens will hopefully advertise to the maximum Busan's capacity in hosting the expo."

On Sept. 7, Shin Jae-hyun, the international relations envoy from Busan city government, Jang Young-jin, First Vice-Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, and other representatives of the country's central government visited Paris to submit a report on the port city's Expo hosting plan. Mayor Park had planned to leave for Paris for the submission two days before but abruptly canceled it to monitor the city that was being battered by Typhoon Hinnamnor.

In Paris, Shin and Jang met the BIE Secretary General Dimitri Kerkentzes and said Busan's bid is being "proudly backed by Korea One Team" consisting of various levels of government, the National Assembly and citizenry groups. The Korean delegation also held luncheons on Sept. 6-7 inviting representatives of BIE member states in Paris to promote the Korea's second-largest city. A plum liquor made at a local Busan distillery filled glasses for toasts during the luncheons. The delegation also held diplomatic meetings with representatives of BIE member states including Mongolia and Rwanda.

The report will be shared by 170 member states of the BIE, who in 2023 will visit the city to assess the feasibility of it hosting the expo. The BIE will gather results of the feasibility reports until June that year. It will then be followed by an election during a BIE General Assembly in November that year to select the final winner.