NEWS

[Seoul's News] Policy Exchange between Seoul and London

Date 2017-04-12 Writer ssunha
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and London Mayor Sadiq Khan met up at the London City Hall on April 3, 2017 (Mon) to sign a “Seoul-London Friendship City Agreement” and promised cooperation in nine areas including democratization of the economy, response to climate change, and digital innovation.

The two mayors, who both served as human rights lawyers and members of civic organizations at one point, are known as mayors for people who fought hard to represent the common people and promoted social integration through administrative projects such as ‘Weconomics’ and ‘Administration for All.’ They are innovation global leaders who were included in the list of the ‘World’s Four Unconventional Mayors’ by the NHK Corporation in Japan last year.

Through the Seoul-London Friendship City Agreement, Seoul and London decided to cooperate in the nine areas of ▴Response to climate change, ▴Democratization of the economy, ▴Digital innovation, ▴Arts & Culture, ▴Tourism, ▴e-Government, ▴Smart city, ▴Social innovation, and ▴Urban regeneration.

The agreement is a follow-up to the ‘Friendship and Cooperation Agreement’ from December 2015. Its goal is to strengthen the cooperative relationship between Seoul and London and further subdivide the areas of cooperation.

At the meeting with Mayor Khan, Mayor Park invited the City of London to the ‘First Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism (Sep. 1 – Nov. 5, 2017),’ which is scheduled to be held in the second half of the year, and suggested that London participate in the ‘World e-Governments Organization of Cities and Local Governments (WeGO),’ a global organization in which Seoul is serving as the chair city. The goal is to reinforce cooperation between Seoul and London in the areas of e-Government, urban planning and urban space.

Mayor Park said, “Seoul is cooperating with London Mayor Sadiq Khan in many areas. We expect that future exchanges will lead to discovery of new areas of cooperation that will enhance the lives of citizens across the world.”