Busan mayor wraps up Expo bid campaign in Africa

Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, left, meets Angolan President Joao Lourenco in Luanda, March 1. Courtesy of Busan Metropolitan City

Angola, South Africa, Lesotho welcome visiting mayor, Korean government envoys

By Ko Dong-hwan

Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon has finished his trip to Africa, wrapping up the mission to promote the city's 2030 Expo bid against Riyadh and Rome.

While the mayor's visits have drawn promises from each country to support the city's bid, they also resulted in agreements on expanding bilateral ties to create more opportunities for exchanges in businesses, education and solutions for common problems.

Park returned from his visits to three African countries as 170 member states of the Bureau International des Expositions are expected to vote during the Paris-based organization's general assembly in November to pick the city that will host the World Expo 2030. Park has been meeting heads of countries in South America, Southeast Asia and Europe since last year, asking them to support his city's bid.

Park most recently visited Angola on March 1, meeting President Joao Lourenco. The mayor requested the president to vote for his city in the BIE general assembly in November and discussed ways in which Busan can support the African nation in various sectors, including new environmental policies to fight the climate crisis and improve policies on energy, wastewater treatment, education and public health.

The president said there already are business exchanges between Angola and Korea including petroleum and shipbuilding. As well, an increasing number of Korean firms recently started investing in the country in the fields of fishery and processed seafood, according to President Lourenco.

Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon speaks to Angola's state broadcasters and news wire agencies following his meeting with Angolan President Joao Lourenco. Courtesy of Busan Metropolitan City

The president, according to the Diplomacy and Trade Division under the Busan city government's 2030 Expo Bid Promotion Headquarters, said both nations have been "maintaining a good relationship, therefore I expect Busan will see a good result."

Another proposition Park made to the Angolan leader was that not just Angola's top-tier government officials but also young locals and public workers will visit Busan and learn how it became Korea's biggest port city.

"For any development cooperation project between the two different countries to wind up developing more in-depth planning, what must follow is the exchange of manpower," Park told the president.

The two ended their meeting with mutual agreement that Busan and the Angolan capital of Luanda sign a bilateral sister city partnership in the near future. Luanda, within the province of the same name, is Angola's primary port city as well as the country's leading industrial and cultural center ― much like Busan. The trade division of the Busan government said the Angolan president "showed a big interest in how that partnership will hoist Luanda to modernization."

Park's meetings in Angola continued with Minister of External Relations Tete Antonio and Luanda Provincial Governor Manuel Homem. Park and Homem hit a particular note in that the two cities will see strategic cooperation in many fields. The governor, according to the Busan authority, showed a particular interest in ICT exchanges and mutual supports in that matter. Park personally requested Homem to join the World Climate Industry Expo to be held in Busan in May.

Park also talked to Angola's state broadcasters and news wire agencies, including TPA, ANGOP, Rede GIRASSOL and TV ZIMBO, explaining why he was in Africa and what Korea-Angola ties would bring to the African nation.

Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon meets South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor in Pretoria, Feb. 27. Park presented the minister with Boogi, Busan's seagull mascot. Courtesy of Busan Metropolitan City

Prior to the Angola visit, Park met South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor in Pretoria on Feb. 27. He was accompanied by an "exceptionally large" delegation, according to the city government, comprising representatives of Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Company and LG Electronics, as well as Korea's trade-investment promoting agency and the local Korean embassy in South Africa.

The African country is currently hosting international branches of major Korean firms including Samsung, Hyundai, LG, POSCO and Korea Electric Power Corporation.

Park, interviewing with Pretoria News on Feb. 28, also raised awareness among the country's public on Busan's hosting bid. It was covered by local dailies including The Star, The Mercury and Cape Times.

The South African trip was preceded by his visit to Lesotho on Feb. 24. Meeting Letsie III, king of the country situated within South Africa, the mayor told him the Yoon Suk Yeol administration has recently decided to support Lesotho in the sectors of vocational skills training centers, educational environment and forestation. The meeting was joined by the country's key officials including the prime minister, the ministers of foreign affairs, finance and public transportation as well as subsidiary government bureaus.

"Busan Expo 2030 will be a 'solution platform' for the Kingdom of Lesotho as the Busan Initiative will propose practical solutions for some of the most common problems shared by humanity like food shortage, energy and climate change," the mayor told the king, mentioning the base principle behind the city's Expo bid. "And the solutions will be efficient and practical, the ways Busan had learned from transforming Korea into a developed country."

Previously on Feb. 21-24, Busan sent a delegation to Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam, the biggest port cities of Kenya and Tanzania, respectively, to promote the Korean city's Expo mission. The delegation met Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir and Dar-es-Salaam Governor Amos Makalla.