Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Engages in Sports Diplomacy, Attends 'World Olympic Cities Alliance Annual Meeting' in Lausanne, Switzerland

First Seoul Mayor to Attend the Annual Meeting of the World Union of Olympic Cities
Series of Meetings with the President of the World Union of Olympic Cities and Officials from International Sports Federations

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon actively engaged in sports diplomacy to promote "Seoul, the International Sports City" during his visit to Lausanne, Switzerland, known as the "Olympic Capital."

On the 24th (local time), Mayor Oh attended the "2022 World Union of Olympic Cities (WUOC) Annual Meeting" held at the Olympic House, the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, strengthening friendly cooperative relations with Olympic host cities. This was his first attendance as the Mayor of Seoul.

The "World Union of Olympic Cities" is a non-profit organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, with 43 cities from 22 countries worldwide that have hosted or intend to host the Olympics as members. Seoul joined as a full member in 2019. Through close cooperation with the IOC, it researches ways to revitalize Olympic legacies and shares experiences related to hosting through building networks among Olympic host cities.

Mayor Oh met with IOC President Thomas Bach at the Olympic House where the annual meeting was held. He actively conveyed Seoul’s unique vision for becoming an international sports city and emphasized that Seoul is the optimal city to host mega sports events. This meeting was held following an agreement between IOC President Thomas Bach and Mayor Oh during the "26th Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC)" held earlier in Seoul to explore the development direction of Seoul’s sports policies.

He also met with Gregory Junod, the Mayor of Lausanne and President of the World Union of Olympic Cities, to discuss mutual cooperation plans for Seoul to leap forward as Asia’s central sports city as an Olympic host city.

Additionally, Mayor Oh held meetings with international sports officials, including the IOC eSports Director and the International Swimming Federation (FINA), to attract international sports events to Seoul. He introduced Seoul’s appeal as a host city for major sports competitions to officials from International Federations (IFs) and actively expressed Seoul’s intention to host globally recognized events. During the meeting with Vincent Pereira, IOC eSports Director, they agreed to explore ways to utilize Seoul’s eSports-related facilities and various collaborative opportunities with the IOC, such as the "Olympic eSports Week."

Seoul City evaluated that through this visit to Lausanne, Switzerland, it impressed international sports officials with Seoul’s capacity to host international competitions and took a step closer to attracting mega sports events by leveraging cooperative systems with the international sports community.

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