Establishing a Multi-Polar Metropolitan Cooperation System... Launch of the 'Mega City Support Inter-Ministerial TF'

The Committee on Autonomy and Decentralization operates the 'Megacity and Local Administrative System Reform Support Team,' and the National Balanced Development Committee operates the 'Super Metropolitan Cooperation Project Support Team' respectively.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Presidential Committee on Autonomy and Decentralization and the National Balanced Development Committee announced on the 26th that they will hold the inaugural meeting of the "Megacity Support Inter-Ministerial Task Force (TF)" on the 27th, co-led by Kim Soon-eun, Chairperson of the Autonomy and Decentralization Committee, and Kim Sa-yeol, Chairperson of the National Balanced Development Committee.

At the inaugural meeting, vice ministers from related ministries including the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will participate as members of the inter-ministerial TF. To jointly support the TF, the Autonomy and Decentralization Committee will operate the "Megacity and Local Administrative System Reform Support Team," while the National Balanced Development Committee will run the "Super-Regional Cooperation Project Support Team," and an expert group will be formed for policy consultation.

The new cooperative system, such as megacities, which is actively being discussed mainly among metropolitan local governments outside the capital area, aims to overcome the continuous concentration intensification in the metropolitan area and promote "balanced national development." It pursues the ideology of "autonomy and decentralization" by granting groundbreaking autonomy to super-regional zones to secure global competitiveness.

The inter-ministerial TF plans to systematically respond to various cooperation methods such as consultation, agreements, alliances, and integration among local governments and prepare customized support measures. The Autonomy and Decentralization Committee will prepare institutional improvements and policy support measures including ?reviewing possible regions (metropolitan and basic) for introducing special local governments such as megacities ?discovering tailored transferred administrative tasks for special local governments. The National Balanced Development Committee will establish ?a super-regional cooperation promotion strategy ?support measures for super-regional cooperation projects linked with regional balanced New Deal projects.

At the launch of the inter-ministerial TF, Chairpersons Kim Soon-eun and Kim Sa-yeol stated, "Building a multi-polar metropolitan cooperation system through cooperation between central and local governments and local authorities should become a new regional development plan that unites the public sector, private sector, and residents as one." They added, "Such metropolitan cooperation must be led by local governments, and the government will promptly devise customized support measures for each region to promote balanced national development in the era of Autonomy and Decentralization 2.0."

The inter-ministerial TF will operate intensively from April to September, holding working-level meetings and plenary sessions, and plans to prepare a whole-of-government support plan by October.

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