BusanCity and Fukuoka in Japan have declared 2009 as a year of friendship and have decided to facilitate various exchange projects at governmental and private levels. Busan held a ceremony to declare the "friendship year," with the attendance of Mayor Hur Nam-sik, sixth from left, and Hiroshi Yoshida, fifth from left, as well as the Korean chairman of the Busan-Fukuoka Forum, at BusanCity Hall on Oct. 31.
In the "Joint Statement for 2009 Busan-Fukuoka Friendship Year," the two mayors decided to facilitate exchanges by developing various commemorative projects.