Seoul City Signs Sister City MOU with Basel-Stadt, Switzerland... Cooperation in Life Sciences and More

Mayor Oh Se-hoon Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Basel-Stadt Governor Beat Jans after Meeting
Strengthening Mutual Cooperation in Life Sciences, Early-Stage Startups, Climate Change, Architecture, and Culture & Tourism Between the Two Cities

Beat Jans, Governor of Basel-Stadt

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul Metropolitan Government and Basel-Stadt Canton of Switzerland will establish a sister city relationship to collaborate in fields such as life sciences, early-stage startups, innovation, climate change, and research and development.

On the 29th, according to Seoul City, Mayor Oh Se-hoon of Seoul and Governor Beat Jans of Basel-Stadt Canton announced that they will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a friendly cooperation city agreement between Seoul and Basel-Stadt Canton. Basel-Stadt Canton is home to the global pharmaceutical companies Novartis and Roche headquarters, and is a world-leading hub in life sciences with over 200 research institutions and more than 32,000 professionals.

This sister city MOU signing is the second such agreement between cities in Switzerland following the MOU with Zurich Canton. The agreement was made possible by the visit of the Governor of Basel-Stadt Canton to Seoul for the sister city agreement.

Since July, Seoul has been jointly promoting the ‘Seoul-Basel Startup Incubation Program,’ a bio-medical startup support project with Basel-Stadt Canton, and this MOU is expected to act as a catalyst for exchanges in the bio sector between the two cities. The Seoul-Basel Startup Incubation Program selects five bio-medical startups with overseas competitiveness in cooperation with Seoul City and the University of Basel, then supports clinical and non-clinical research and provides consulting for entry into the European market at the University of Basel in Switzerland.

To commemorate this sister city agreement, Seoul City proposed a project to build a ‘Seoul Hanok’ in Basel City and promised cooperation in various fields including life sciences, startups, climate change, architecture, culture, and tourism.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Basel-Stadt Canton will visit Korea for six days until the 3rd of next month. After signing the MOU, he will attend the Seoul International Bio-Medical Conference and plans to tour Bukchon Hanok Village on the 1st of next month.

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