Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, right, met Bosnia and Herzegovina Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Stasa Kosarac in Sarajevo on Dec. 2 to promote the city's bid to host Expo 2030. Courtesy of Busan Metropolitan City
By Ko Dong-hwan
Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon visited Bosnia and Herzegovina as he continued promoting his city's bid to host Expo 2030. The visit follows his trip to Bulgaria, where he met the country's president and the mayor of Sofia, the country's capital.
To secure as many votes from member states of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) in Paris as possible in the race against Riyadh and Rome, the mayor met Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Stasa Kosarac in Sarajevo on Dec. 2. Park proposed that the two countries form an agreement on economic cooperation to expand their bilateral economic partnership.
The 2030 Expo Bid Promotion Headquarters under the Busan Metropolitan City Government said the Bosnian minister remarked he too hoped for positive long-term bilateral economic relations and hopes to have discussions with the Korean port city's chamber of commerce and industry. The minister, according to the city authority, added that hosting the expo would be a good opportunity for Korean companies to promote themselves overseas.
Park, in the meeting, explained to the minister about the Busan Initiative project, with which, the city government, by hosting the expo, hopes to suggest solutions for problems currently shared by humanity, including the climate crisis, digital gaps between countries and countermeasures against COVID-19.
