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Busan Metropolitan City to Host 2026 Busan Global City Week, Exploring a Leap Forward as a Global Maritime Capital

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Busan Metropolitan City announced that it will hold the 2026 Busan Global City Week for three days from today, September 8, through September 10, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the opening of Busan Port.

Now in its third year, Busan Global City Week is a city diplomacy event designed to expand exchanges and cooperation with Busan’s sister and friendship cities and to share policies and experiences among global cities.

This year, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the opening of Busan Port, the city has invited a delegation from Guangzhou, China, and will combine the 2026 Busan Global City Forum with a visit to the 2026 World Smart City Expo (WSCE) and site visits to major locations, including Busan New Port. Through these programs, Busan plans to share future development directions in the maritime, port and smart city sectors and broaden the foundation for substantive cooperation among cities.

Busan Metropolitan City and the Busan Global City Foundation will hold the 2026 Busan Global City Forum, a program associated with Global City Week, today, September 8, at 1 p.m. in the Capri Room on the second floor of Paradise Hotel Busan.

Now in its fourth year, the forum will be held under the slogan “From Port City to Global Maritime Capital: 150 Years of Busan Connecting the World!” It was organized to share a future vision for Busan as a global maritime city and expand networks among maritime cities in Korea and abroad, building on developments such as the relocation of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the establishment of the International Maritime and Commercial Court in Busan.

Under the theme “Sea, Port and City: A New Future for Global Maritime Cities,” the forum will revisit Busan’s identity and strengths as a global maritime city based on its core assets of the sea and port, while jointly exploring directions for future development.

At the opening ceremony, amid growing public interest in international environmental issues as the era of the Arctic shipping route approaches, Tyler Rasch, who has been actively engaged in related fields, will deliver a special lecture titled “The Arctic Shipping Route and Opportunities for Busan: What Should We Design?”

The thematic sessions that follow will focus on “Maritime Cities and Branding” and “Oceans, Ports and ODA,” with experts from Korea and abroad discussing the competitiveness of global maritime cities and approaches to the sustainable development of port cities.

Session 1 will feature Choi Seok-jun, Director of the Maritime Capital Development Division at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries; Choi Ji-yeon, Associate Research Fellow at the Korea Maritime Institute; Li Haizhou, Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the Guangzhou Municipal People’s Congress; and Koh Puay Guan, Professor at the National University of Singapore. Participants will share perspectives on the identity of maritime cities and urban branding strategies.

In Session 2, Hafida Fahmiasari, Transport and Ports Specialist at the World Bank, and representatives from the Port of Guangzhou will present examples of international cooperation for sustainable port development and port-city development through a modernized fisheries industry. They will also discuss relevant areas of cooperation with Korean experts in the maritime and port sectors.

Citizens wishing to participate in the forum may register in advance using the QR code on the event poster or register on site on the day of the event. Further information is available on the Busan Global City Foundation website at https://bgcf.or.kr.

During Busan Global City Week, a variety of related programs will also be held, including the Busan Global City Forum, a visit to the World Smart City Expo (WSCE), and site visits to major municipal policy locations.

Tomorrow, September 9, the Guangzhou delegation will visit the World Smart City Expo (WSCE) at BEXCO to review the latest technologies and policy cases in the smart city sector. The delegation will then visit Busan New Port to see Busan’s port infrastructure and the current operation of its smart and eco-friendly port facilities firsthand.

Through these related programs, Busan Metropolitan City plans to deepen the Guangzhou delegation’s understanding of Busan’s major policies and industrial sites while further strengthening the foundation for mutual understanding and exchanges between the two cities.

Na Yun-bin, Director General of the Tourism and MICE Bureau of Busan Metropolitan City, said, “This year’s Busan Global City Week will provide an opportunity to discuss maritime business convergence, city branding and the future of sustainable port cities at the Busan Global City Forum, and to extend those discussions into substantive exchanges and cooperation among cities through visits to the World Smart City Expo and Busan New Port.”

He added, “I hope this event will bring together citizens, young people, experts from Korea and abroad, and overseas cities to consider Busan’s future and create new possibilities for Busan as a maritime capital connected to the world.”