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| President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a meeting with mayors and governors at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo
President Yoon Suk Yeol stressed a "one-team spirit" between the central and local governments, Thursday, in supporting Busan's bid to host World Expo 2030, saying that hosting the event is one of the key objectives of his vision to make Korea a "global pivotal state."
Yoon made those remarks while presiding over a meeting in Busan with local government heads across the country. This appears to be a gesture to appeal to Korea's interests and enthusiasm in hosting the event to a delegation from the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) which has been inspecting Busan throughout this week.
"The World Expo 2030 will be a platform for Korea to suggest its development experience with the international community and to present our vision for global agendas, such as climate change and digital transformation," Yoon said during the meeting.
"At the same time, hosting the Expo in Busan is a critical objective that Korea should accomplish in order to enable a balanced development between regions and elevate the country's status as a global pivotal state."
The BIE Enquiry Mission has been inspecting Busan throughout this week, visiting venues that will host the Expo, receiving presentations from organizers and meeting with senior government officials here.
Hosting a dinner banquet with the delegation, Monday, Yoon said, "The World Expo 2030 in Busan will allow participating countries to share their diverse experiences and strengths and jointly come up with solutions for problems that face humanity."
Not only Yoon but also other Korean government officials have been saying that they are designing the World Expo 2030 in Busan to become an opportunity "to share Korea's unique experiences of becoming an independent country, experiencing a war shortly after and overcoming poverty within a century," thus contributing to the world to overcome various challenges it faces through innovation.
During the meeting, the president underscored that Busan's Expo bid is not confined to the city itself, but is a matter of other provinces and cities, thus the municipalities should use their international networks and negotiation channels to persuade the 171 member countries of the BIE.
"The World Expo 2030 in Busan is an objective that we must achieve in order to expedite balanced growth among municipalities and make national progress toward a global pivotal state," Yoon said. "We should not think this is a project confined to Busan. It's a national agenda."
"Global pivotal state" is a term Yoon has been promoting as part of his diplomatic strategy. It is aimed at heightening the country's role in the international community so that it can be more active in raising opinions on global agendas thus contributing to advancing peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
Before the meeting, the 17 mayors and governors adopted a resolution pledging their full support for Busan's Expo bid.
In the resolution, they pledged to raise public sentiment on Busan's bid and join their diplomatic efforts to garner BIE members' support.
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