Gwangju Mayor Kang Ki-jung "Strengthening Cultural Exchange with Braga, Portugal"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Gwangju Metropolitan City, a UNESCO Media Arts Creative City, and Braga City in Portugal are joining forces to expand exchanges.

Kang Kijung, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, held a video conference with Ricardo Rio, Mayor of Braga, Portugal, at City Hall on the afternoon of the 24th to discuss cooperation plans between the two cities.

The two cities agreed to build a multifaceted exchange and cooperation system in the cultural field, going beyond their collaboration through the UNESCO Media Arts Creative Cities Network.

First, Mayor Kang said, "Gwangju was designated as a UNESCO Media Arts Creative City in 2014, and Braga in 2017. Both share a common goal of connecting art and citizens' lives through media art to create a happy life and build a beautiful city."

He continued, "Gwangju is becoming a center of culture and arts, an Asian cultural hub city, and an important base for advanced strategic industries such as the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Center. I hope Gwangju and Braga will blossom into new cultures by combining media art and AI."

Additionally, Mayor Kang congratulated Braga City on being selected as the host of the 2024 UNESCO Creative Cities Annual Meeting and proposed, "Let's find ways to expand cultural exchanges beyond the media art exchanges we have had so far."

Mayor Ricardo Rio said, "Gwangju is emerging as a leading city in advanced industries such as AI. Braga is a European city with over 2,000 years of history and is also a young city where people under 30 make up 40% of the urban population."

He added, "Braga was designated the European Capital of Democracy in 2022 and is currently striving to be named the European Capital of Culture in 2027. There are many similarities with Gwangju. I hope to meet at the 2024 UNESCO Creative Cities Annual Meeting held in Braga and develop a cooperative relationship beyond media arts creative city exchanges."

Finally, when Mayor Kang said, "Let's cheer each other on so that Korea and Portugal can both advance to the round of 16 in the Qatar World Cup," Mayor Ricardo Rio responded, "I wish the Korean national team success."

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