The Busan-Fukuoka Forum, a leading platform for dialogue and exchange between the cities of Busan and Fukuoka in Japan, will hold its 15th meeting on March 3-4, at Lotte Hotel in Busan. The forum, which was first held in 2006, aims to strengthen international cooperation and mutual understanding between the two regions. This year’s forum will be especially significant as it will focus on supporting Busan’s bid for the 2030 World Expo and exploring ways to enhance geoscience cooperation between the two cities.
Representatives from the local governments, business, academia, and media of both cities will attend the forum to revitalize people-to-people exchanges, which were disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kim Jang-sil, President of the Korea Tourism Organization, will deliver a keynote lecture on “Recommendations for Revitalizing Tourism between Korea and Japan.”
Lee Sung-kwon, Vice Mayor for Economic Affairs of Busan City, will introduce local industry-academia-government (IAG) collaboration projects and discuss collaboration with Fukuoka during the forum session. The potential for geoscience cooperation between the two cities is expected to bring significant benefits to their local economies, such as upgrading industrial structures, creating high-quality jobs, and promoting human and material exchanges.
In addition, the Busan-Fukuoka Forum plans to publicly express its support for Busan’s World Expo bid, which will be a strong boost for the city’s efforts to win the bid. The forum has played a crucial role in promoting bilateral friendship between the two cities and serves as a foundation for improving bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan.
The Busan-Fukuoka Forum is poised to produce concrete and tangible results and contribute to the revitalization of the economies of the two cities. The return of the forum after a three-year hiatus marks an exciting moment for the renewal of bilateral exchanges and cooperation.