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| Gangneung Mayor Kim Han-geun speaks during an ITS online conference, broadcast live from the Sheraton Seoul Palace Gangnam Hotel, Thursday. Courtesy of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport |
By Lee Kyung-min
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held an international conference online Thursday, as part of efforts to help Gangneung, Gangwon Province, become the venue for the 2026 Intelligent Transport System (ITS) World Congress.
The ministry said Gangneung would make an ideal host, illustrated by its success in holding a slew of other global events including the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
It has been selected as a host city of the 2022 World Choir Games, which is expected to see 10 times more participants than at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Gangneung Mayor Kim Han-geun explained the city's plans on incorporating smart city solutions and utilizing ITS technologies such as Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) and autonomous driving, key ways to bolster effective city planning and management.
C-ITS is used to enhance transport safety via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications.
"Gangneung is a rare city with a capability to hold large-scale global events, a strength highlighted more by its tourism resources and effective containment of COVID-19," Kim said during the online conference.
"I am grateful for this opportunity where we can expand the scope of cooperation for shared growth of all ITS members."
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| Gangneung Mayor Kim Han-geun, second from right, rises to speak during an ITS online conference broadcast live from Sheraton Seoul Palace Gangnam Hotel, Thursday. |
Held every year, the ITS World Congress is the largest international exhibition and academic conference in the transport community. Seoul held the event in 1998 and Busan hosted it in 2010.
Countries in three regions ― the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific ― take turns holding the event following a vote from ITS Board of Director countries. The first event took place in 1994 in Paris, France.
Thursday's event was joined by eight Board of Director countries: Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia.
The online seminar, held under the title "COVID-19: New era, new mobility with the ITS," was joined by representatives from the eight countries, with each giving a 20-minute presentation on ITS trends in their respective county and how the pandemic has affected their transport policies and their COVID-19 response measures.
Korea shared the Korean New Deal, a policy initiative spearheaded by the Moon Jae-in administration to identify new sources of sustainable growth.
Second Vice Minister Son Myoung-soo sought support from all eight countries for the hosting bid, saying the event will help the city raise its profile on the global stage.
"I hope today's seminar will promote mutual growth for all participants by Korea serving as a platform where we identify common problems in transport, especially involving the pandemic response measures, and find solutions through in-depth discussions," he said.
"Korea will be able to share its previous achievements and lessons learned from 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, which we are happy to share to help the discussions on a variety of ITS issues move forward for sustainable growth and closer cooperation of the members via the tighter system integration."
Korea will compete in the hosting bid with Taiwan. The host country will be announced October 2021 at the ITS Congress to be held in Hamburg, Germany.
