Busan is good

Park Heong-joon, Mayor of Busan, Expands Practical Cooperation Through Joint Declaration, Tourism, and Bio-Investment Agreements in Shanghai

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To elevate the international stature of Busan as a global hub city, Mayor Park Heong-joon embarked on an official visit. On the first day (September 8), in Shanghai, he signed a joint declaration with the Mayor of Shanghai to discuss the future of the two cities, and concluded business agreements with tourism and bio companies, achieving tangible results in cooperation.

In the morning, Mayor Park visited Shanghai City Hall and met with Mayor Gong Zheng, where they signed the “Joint Declaration on Strengthening Sister City Relations between Busan and Shanghai.”

During the meeting, the Mayor of Shanghai introduced the city’s recent development progress and key policies, sharing insights on urban development. Mayor Park presented Busan’s vision and strategies, emphasizing that since both cities face common challenges, closer cooperation would generate greater synergy.

In commemoration of the 32nd anniversary of their sister city relationship, the two cities agreed through the joint declaration to further advance cooperation in existing fields such as culture, tourism, and the economy, while also seeking concrete cooperative measures in emerging areas including the digital economy, senior welfare, and citizen safety. They also pledged to expand information sharing and human resource exchanges.

In particular, concrete cooperation agendas were discussed in the tourism sector. Both sides highlighted the fact that Busan and Shanghai are growing into world-class tourist cities, agreeing to expand efforts to attract tourists and to conduct joint marketing campaigns.

The two cities also agreed to actively participate in each other’s large-scale international events in the future, thereby establishing a sustainable and substantive partnership.

Since forming their sister city relationship on August 24, 1993, the two cities have consistently engaged in substantive exchanges across diverse fields, including cultural and artistic exchanges such as the Youth Baduk (Go) Tournament, Young Artists Exchange Program, Busan-Shanghai Joint Concerts, and Busan-Shanghai Film Exhibitions, as well as cooperation in economics, logistics, and finance.

In the afternoon, Mayor Park visited the Shanghai headquarters of the global OTA, Trip.com Group, where he signed an MOU to strengthen tourism exchange cooperation.

The signing ceremony was attended by Jane Jie Sun, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Trip.com Group, along with vice presidents. Discussions focused on concrete measures to enhance Busan’s global influence in tourism and to attract more visitors to the city.

In particular, the two parties agreed to collaborate on developing new tourism products to sustain the recent growth in international tourist arrivals to Busan, creating opportunities for even more overseas visitors to experience the city.

Later, Mayor Park signed a three-party investment promotion MOU with local bio companies TOB and KCell Biosciences, which operate multiple cell culture media production facilities and R&D centers at key global hubs. The agreement aims to pioneer a new era of Busan’s bio-economy and systematically foster the bio industry.

*Cell culture media: An essential raw material used as “food” for cells, necessary for producing biopharmaceuticals such as antibodies and cell therapies, as well as for implementing technologies in the cultivated meat market that replaces conventional meat.

As cell culture media emerge as a new strategic material in the bio industry, the global market is projected to reach 7.71 billion USD in 2025 and 34.58 billion USD in 2037. Localization of cell culture media is now considered a core factor in strengthening the competitiveness of the bio industry. Currently, most of the cell culture media is imported, and securing independent technology and establishing domestic production bases are urgent tasks for the growth of the national bio industry.

Through this investment agreement, it is expected that the construction of new plants and the establishment of production systems will help build an ecosystem for Busan’s bio materials, parts, and equipment industry and secure global competitiveness.

*Bio materials, parts, and equipment industry: Refers to industries encompassing the materials, components, and equipment used across all stages of the bio industry, including R&D, manufacturing, production, and services.

Mayor Park evaluated, “This visit to Shanghai produced concrete results by discussing cooperation measures with the Mayor of Shanghai and signing the joint declaration to identify future-oriented growth projects. In addition, by signing MOUs in the fields of tourism and bio investment, it was a valuable opportunity to expand the foundation for practical cooperation. Moving forward, we will continue to expand substantial exchanges and cooperation with major cities around the world, further strengthening Busan’s status as a global hub city.”