| A large billboard supporting Busan's bid to host World Expo 2030 is installed by Samsung Electronics at the Palais Garnier in Paris, Monday, where candidate cities will give presentations to member states of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) at the BIE General Assembly on Tuesday and Wednesday. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics |
By Park Jae-hyuk
Korean companies have ramped up their efforts to support Busan's bid to host World Expo 2030, showing an exemplary model of government-business partnerships for a nationally important event.
In particular, the heads of the country's four largest business groups ― Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor and LG ― participated in promotional activities themselves. This week they are accompanying President Yoon Suk Yeol to Paris to attend the General Assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) where the fourth round of presentations is to be held.
| SK Group and Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry Chairman Chey Tae-won, front row sixth from left, poses with members of the Bureau International des Expositions Enquiry Mission and supporters for Busan's World Expo 2030 bid at a hotel in Seoul in this April photo. Yonhap |
Their latest trip came after they traveled around the world in recent months to ask the BIE members to vote for Korea's second-largest city in November's General Assembly, so that it can host one of the world's three largest international events.
“The fourth round of presentations is expected to be the final turning point ahead of the vote in November,” said the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), a business lobby group that serves as the secretariat for the civilian committee to support Busan's bid.
The conglomerate leaders also accompanied Yoon in January on his trip to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland and attracted powerful people to the Korea Night event held on the sidelines of the forum to introduce Korea and Busan. At that time, they expressed satisfaction with the outcome of their efforts to promote the Korean city.
In addition, the four business tycoons have utilized the global networks built by their companies and themselves, in order to ask for international support for Busan.
SK Group and KCCI Chairman Chey Tae-won, who co-chairs the bid committee, has especially been busy promoting Busan.
He personally greeted the BIE Enquiry Mission when they came to Korea in April for a weeklong inspection. Earlier this month, he attended the meeting with the chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, despite an injury to his Achilles tendon, as he considered the event to be important to win Japan's support for Busan's bid.
Between February and March, the chairman visited Spain, Portugal and Denmark as a special presidential envoy to ask each country's prime minister to support the Korean city.
| Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, left, poses with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the presidential palace in Mexico City in this September 2022 photo. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics |
Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong was also appointed a special presidential envoy last year when he visited Mexico and Panama to promote Busan.
In June last year, he visited the Netherlands to tell the European country's prime minister that World Expo 2030 in Busan will be a great opportunity to make the whole world aware of next-generation semiconductor technologies led jointly by Korea and the Netherlands.
| Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, front row seventh from left, poses with the ambassadors of African, Caribbean and Pacific Island countries to the U.S., during an event at the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., in this March photo. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group |
Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun attended an event hosted in March by the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., to seek support from African, Caribbean and Pacific Island countries. He also visited the Czech Republic and Slovakia last October to make the same request to the prime ministers of those countries.
| LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, left, poses with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the latter's office in Warsaw in this October 2022 photo. Courtesy of LG Group |
LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo met with the Polish prime minister last October during his visit to LG Energy Solution's battery plant there. He focused at that time on emphasizing the enthusiasm of Koreans for hosting the Expo.
Ahead of the BIE assembly this week, the companies have been holding a range of promotion events in Paris to give a boost to Busan's Expo bid campaign.
Hyundai Motor Group provides electric vehicles with the Busan logo to the Korean delegation, while LG installed large advertisements near Charles de Gaulle International Airport to support the Expo bid. Samsung also set up outdoor signs across the French capital, promoting Busan as a venue for World Expo 2030.