Sets up sisterhood with St. Petersburg, Istanbul
Busan City is quickening its steps to emerge as a global city by concluding a series of sister-city agreements with St. Petersburg of Russia and Istanbul of Turkey.
A "municipal sales" mission led by Mayor Hur Nam-sik signed an agreement on sister-city affiliation with St. Petersburg, called the "pearl of Russia," last month.
Busan has successfully established a system of exchange and cooperation as the Korean partner of the Russian region by forming a sisterhood with St. Petersburg, the entire area of which is registered on the World Heritage as the country's capital of culture and arts.
It means this city has also managed to secure a foothold for advance to the Russian region for Busan-headquartered businesses by propagating the status of Korea's largest port city in Russia and neighboring countries.
The two cities agreed to cooperate for enhancing their international status such as by attending each other's festival, including Russia's white night festival and Busan's fireworks festival, and conducting more brisk exchanges in culture and arts by sending art troupes.
On the occasion of the sixth anniversary of forming a sisterhood with Istanbul, Busan also signed a sister-city cooperation pact with the Turkish capital to strengthen substantive friendship and exchanges in various fields, in which the two cities can enhance common interests, such as economy, culture, environment and sports.
The agreement is expected to provide a stronghold for Busan-based companies to advance to the Turkish market in such industries as steel, automobile, car parts, shipbuilding and ship repairing. The conclusion of sisterhood relationship with St. Petersburg has i ncreased the number of Busan's sister cities to 20 in 17 countries. (Refer to table).
Since it first signed the sister-city affiliation agreement with Kaoshiung, Taiwan, in 1966, Busan has kept expanding its scope of exchanges by signing similar accords with global cities such as Los Angeles, Shimonoseki of Japan and Barcelona of Spain.
■ Busan's sister cities (20 cities in 17 countries)
|
Country |
City |
Date |
|
Taiwan |
Kaoshiung |
June, 1966 |
|
U.S. |
Los Angles |
December, 1967 |
|
Japan |
Shimonoseki |
October, 1976 |
|
Spain |
Barcelona |
O ctober, 1983 |
|
Brazil |
Rio de Janeiro |
September,1985 |
|
Russia |
Vladivostok |
June, 1992 |
|
China |
Shanghai |
August, 1993 |
|
Indonesia |
Surabaya |
August, 1994 |
|
Australia |
Victoria |
October, 1994 |
|
Mexico |
Tijuana |
January, 1995 |
|
Vietnam |
Ho Chi Minh |
November, 1995 |
|
New Zealand |
Auckland |
April, 1996 |
|
Chile |
Valparaiso |
January, 1999 |
|
South Africa |
Western Cape |
June, 2000 |
|
Canada |
Montreal |
September, 2000 |
|
Turkey |
Ist anbul |
June, 2002 |
|
UAE |
Dubai |
November, 2006 |
|
Japan |
Fukuoka |
February, 2007 |
|
U.S. |
Chicago |
May, 2007 |
|
Russia |
St. Petersburg |
June, 2008 |
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