By Lee Kap-soo

Busan City Mayor Park Heong-joon met with Ambassador-designate Georg Wilfried Schmidt of Germany to Korea, on Sept. 21 in the International Council Chamber of Busan City Hall to discuss interaction and cooperation between Busan and Germany.
 

Georg Schmidt met with Mayor Park during his visit to Busan as part of his participation in the KGCCI 2023 Economic Outlook event.

Georg Schmidt, who was appointed to the post in July after serving as the German Ambassador to Thailand, is an expert on Far East Asia with a master's degree in Far East Asian Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

On the day, Mayor Park first thanked Ambassador-designate Georg Schmidt for visiting Busan despite his busy schedule in the early days of his appointment, saying, "This year, there have been more exchanges between our city and Germany than ever before, such as hosting the Hamburg Port Opening Festival event for the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Germany, and I hope that we can discuss various ways of cooperation in the future."

"Busan is currently doing its best to create an investment environment for foreign companies, so I hope that German global companies will be interested in investing in Busan," he said.

In response, German Ambassador-designate Georg Schmidt said, "I know that many exchange projects have been promoted between Busan and Germany, including the KGCCI 2023 Economic Outlook event this year." "I am especially pleased that Busan and Hamburg, which have many similarities, have become cities of friendship and cooperation," he said.

"With the signing of the Friendship and Cooperation City Agreement between Busan and Hamburg in May of this year, it is expected that exchanges between the two cities will increase in various fields such as cultural tourism, economic trade, and people-to-people exchanges," said Mayor Park. "I hope that we can take advantage of this visit to Busan to promote various collaborative projects to interact with other cities in Germany, including Hamburg."

Busan City is promoting various exchange projects such as holding the 'Hamburg Hafen City-Busan North Port International Port City Exhibition' event at the '2023 Busan International Building Festival' held from September 20 to 24 with the Hafen City Corporation of Hamburg, Germany, which is a friendly cooperation city.

Finally, Mayor Park concluded, "In line with the global status of Busan, which achieved the 6th place in Asia in the World Liveability Index, our city will do its best to attract the 2030 Busan World Expo." "I hope you will support the 2030 World Expo to be held in Busan."