The inspection team of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) arrived here Sunday. They will visit Busan from Tuesday to Friday to conduct a crucial assessment over whether the port city is suitable for hosting the World Expo 2030. Based on the onsite examinations, they will draw up a report to be submitted to the 171 BIE member countries for a vote to determine the host city.
Busan has been going all out in preparing for the team’s visit to appeal its merits and capabilities ahead of the vote, which is slated for late November in Paris during the BIE general assembly.
Busan, Korea’s second-largest city, is competing with Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, Italy’s Rome and Ukraine’s Odesa. Among them, Riyadh has been cited as Busan’s most formidable rival as it is equipped with the financial caliber of “oil money.” Rome also remains daunting, buttressed by rock-solid support from European countries.
As a late-comer, Busan had largely been dubbed an underdog, lagging far behind Riyadh. Yet, now it has emerged robust, riding on brisk promotional activities from both the private and public sectors. For instance, co-chairpersons of the bidding committee — Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and SK Chairman Chey Tae-won, concurrently chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) — hoisted the flags, leading relevant officials to visit a large number of member countries across the globe.
Busan has been mobilizing maximum efforts to shine its image in time for the inspection team’s visit. Citizens actively took part in a campaign to clean the city, collect garbage along the coast and take part voluntarily in vehicle operation restrictions.
Before coming here, the inspection team visited Riyadh, March 6-10, to be briefed on the city’s world-class air-flight accessibility coupled with road and subway networks. Saudi Arabia also underlined its ambitious Neom City Project. Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been taking the lead in bids to extract support for the city. In this vein, Busan should continue to remain alert until the last moment toward hosting the event.
Experts say the competition will be neck-and-neck, with many countries in Africa and Latin America having yet to make up their minds. Given this, leading domestic businesses are advised to proactively join the efforts, attracting the countries by exploring more business opportunities with them.
Under the theme of “Transforming Our World; Navigating Toward a Better Future,” Busan has pledged to offer diverse solutions to global challenges such as climate change. In addition, South Korea can share its development experiences with its developing peers while sharing the universal values of democracy and human rights. It can also share its highly advanced digital and AI technologies with the world through the Expo.
Busan’s North Port, the proposed venue for the event, has easy access via public transport such as bus, metro and train. Once a new airport is completed by 2029 on nearby Gadeok Island, nonstop transit between the airport and Expo site will become possible through an urban railroad. Busan has already completed plans for reuse of the relevant facilities after the Expo. The feasibility review for the second-stage development plan for its North Port has recently been approved.
All told, Busan citizens and South Korean people alike are full of aspirations to host the World Expo 2030. They are eager to impress the BIE team and people around the world by sharing their success stories of achieving economic growth and prestige as a “global pivot state,” rising from the rags of the 1950-53 Korean War and Japan’s 1910-45 colonization. Now it is high time for Busan to highlight its merits and intentions to contribute to the prosperity of humanity as a logistics and financial hub.
Source: Yonhap News Agency