Urban Diplomacy Now Ontact... Continued Friendly Exchange Between Busan and Nagasaki

On the 12th, Renewal of Comprehensive Friendly Items Agreement for Face-to-Face and Non-Face-to-Face Exchanges Online
Expansion of Cooperation Scope in Cultural and Academic Exchanges and Exchange Projects Utilizing Joseon Tongsinsa Records

Panorama of Busan City Hall. (Photo by Busan City Hall)

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] On the 12th at 2 p.m., Busan City will sign a renewal agreement for the 2020 friendly exchange items agreement with Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, online at the Fukuoka Economic Cooperation Office on the 26th floor of City Hall.

Busan City and Nagasaki Prefecture agreed to become sister cities on March 25, 2014. The two cities decided to develop substantial cooperation in culture, tourism, education, economy, and urban regeneration, and the friendly exchange items agreement is reviewed and renewed annually by sector.

Last year, the agreement was not signed due to the suspension of administrative exchanges with Japan. This year, due to the spread of COVID-19, the agreement will be signed non-face-to-face using an online video conference. The two cities prepared this agreement based on the 2018 agreement, reflecting situations such as COVID-19.

The main change in this agreement is adjusting the direction of cooperation to comprehensive exchange cooperation including both face-to-face and non-face-to-face exchanges in response to COVID-19. In particular, the scope of cooperation in exchange projects using records related to the Joseon Tongsinsa in the culture and academic exchange field has been expanded.

Byun Sung-wan, Acting Mayor of Busan, said, “It has been six years since Busan City and Nagasaki Prefecture established a sister city relationship. Although visiting exchanges are difficult this year due to COVID-19 and other reasons, we will seek various methods of non-face-to-face exchanges through this agreement to regain vitality.”

Nagasaki Prefecture, a sister city of Busan, is located in the northwest of Kyushu, the westernmost part of Japan, with a population of 1.32 million, an area of 4,105 km², four times that of Busan, and about 600 islands. Its administrative divisions consist of 13 cities and 8 towns, and its gross production was 4.5758 trillion yen (as of 2017), making it a medium-small scale prefecture in Japan.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.