Korean representatives, including Mayor Oh Hyun Seop, attended the one hundred fortieth BIE Annual Meeting held in Paris, France for two days beginning on the last eighteenth, making contacts and promoting Yeosu for the purpose of hosting the 2012 World Expo in that city.
Korea’s chief representative, Kim Seong Jin, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, explained the beautiful natural settings of Yeosu in his speech at a presentation meeting.
Minister Kim presented “a living sea, breathing shores, preservation of natural resources, and future-oriented activities” as the themes of the Yeosu World Expo.
With these themes, he emphasized that the problems of natural resources drain, oceanic and coastal pollution, and natural disasters due to climatic changes should be resolved and the solutions will be presented.
With an expansion of Yeosu Airport, freeways, and national highways, infrastructure is being built to be ready for hosting a successful World Expo.
Minister Kim appealed to other member countries for support by emphasizing that Korea has had the experience in hosting the World Cup, Olympic Games, ASEM, APEC, and other international events in large scale and has the capability also to host the Yeosu World Expo.
Governor of Jeonnam Province, Park Joon Young also made a speech appealing for support. He explained that the candidate city, Yeosu is a beautiful ocean-side city that has over three hundred islands and islets facing the Pacific.
He further introduced Yeosu as the second largest port city with the facilities to handle cargo containers and added that it has an oil refinery complex and a steel mill.
Governor Park appealed to the BIE member nations for support by emphasizing that as the theme of the Yeosu Expo is the Ocean and Coast the Expo will pursue a happier future for the mankind by making a better ocean and coast.
Korean representatives set up an information booth at the entrance to the Annual Meeting and four lady consultants clad in traditional Korean dresses passed out 2012 Yeosu World Expo promotional literature and souvenirs.
They received favorable reactions from the participants when they ran promotional events such as having instant photos taken with the BIE representatives.
They attracted a lot of attention when they showed the advances that Korea has made and the beautiful sceneries of Yeosu on a big screen TV.
After the annual meeting was over, Mayor Oh Hyon Seop invited, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Mr. Kim Seong Jin, Central Committee Chair, Mr. Kim Jae Cheol, Governor of Jeonnam Province, Mr. Park Joon Young, and personnel from the Korean Embassy in France and Korean World Expo personnel to dinner, expressed gratitude for their efforts, and requested them to work harder in their diplomatic activities to win the World Expo hosting.
In the meanwhile, Korea’s competitors, Morocco, Poland, and candidates for the 2015 Expo, Turkey and Italy also set up booths and distributed their promotional literature and souvenirs.