Chairman Chey Tae-won Meets Portuguese and Danish Leaders to Seek Support for Busan Expo

Completion of Tour in Three European Countries

Chairman Chey Tae-won of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (left) is delivering a letter from President Yoon Suk-yeol to Ant?nio Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal. Photo by Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) announced on the 5th that Chairman Chey Tae-won met with Portuguese Prime Minister Ant?nio Costa at the Prime Minister's residence in Lisbon, Portugal, at 9:30 a.m. local time on the 3rd. During the meeting, discussions were held on expanding economic cooperation between Korea and Portugal and negotiations for hosting the 2030 Busan Expo.

On the Korean side, the meeting was attended by Chey Tae-won, KCCI Chairman and Special Envoy of the President, Ambassador Cho Young-moo to Portugal, Park Jung-ho, Vice Chairman of SK Hynix, Woo Tae-hee, Executive Vice Chairman of KCCI, and Hong Seong-hwa, a member of the Expo bid delegation. On the Portuguese side, key government officials including Prime Minister Costa, Ant?nio Jos? da Costa Silva, Minister of Economy and Maritime Affairs, and Elvira Fortunato, Minister of Science, Technology and Education, participated.

Chairman Chey delivered a letter from President Yoon Seok-yeol requesting support for enhancing cooperation between Korea and Portugal and for the 2030 Busan Expo bid.

Chairman Chey said, “Portugal is a leading country in renewable energy, with renewable sources accounting for 54% of its electricity production. We expect cooperation between the two countries in energy transition and renewable energy sectors,” adding, “In the future, we plan to hold a Korea-Portugal Business Roundtable to explore private sector cooperation measures.”

He continued, “The 2030 Busan Expo will serve as a platform to discuss and find solutions to the challenges facing humanity,” and stated, “We aim to pass on this platform to the next host countries to continuously contribute to human development and solving common challenges.”

Prime Minister Costa of Portugal said, “Portugal is strategically located as a key point connecting Europe and South America, playing an important role in the global supply chain,” and added, “Portugal is rich in lithium, a battery material, and has many talents in the science and technology fields. Based on this, we hope to expand cooperation with Korean companies in batteries, semiconductors, green hydrogen, and other sectors.”

Earlier, on the 2nd, Chairman Chey visited Copenhagen, Denmark, where at 1:15 p.m. local time, he met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and delivered a letter from President Yoon Seok-yeol. The meeting was attended by Ambassador Kim Hyung-gil to Denmark, Park Jung-ho, Vice Chairman of SK Hynix, Woo Tae-hee, Executive Vice Chairman of KCCI, Park Kyung-il, President of SK Ecoplant, and Hong Seong-hwa, a member of the Expo bid delegation.

Following the meeting with the Danish Prime Minister, Chairman Chey held successive meetings with key government officials responsible for the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), including Katrine Winding, Director of the Danish Business Authority, and Michael Dithmer, Deputy Minister of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs, explaining the necessity of hosting the 2030 Busan Expo and sharing consensus on strengthening bilateral economic cooperation.

Executive Vice Chairman Woo Tae-hee of KCCI also held a separate meeting with senior officials of the Confederation of Danish Industry (Dansk Industri: DI) to request private sector support for the 2030 Busan Expo bid.

Chairman Chey’s special envoy visits to three European countries?Spain, Denmark, and Portugal?are evaluated as having conveyed Korea’s strong determination to host the 2030 World Expo by meeting with the prime ministers of all three countries, while also increasing the potential for expanding economic cooperation with these visiting countries. KCCI plans to promote follow-up measures on economic cooperation agendas through holding economic cooperation committees and activating sector-specific cooperation channels with the visited countries.

Since negotiations began in earnest in June last year, Korean companies have visited 84 countries within less than a year to promote support for the Expo. The number of countries negotiated with reached 126, and including negotiations with visiting foreign dignitaries, a total of 404 negotiation sessions were conducted.

Woo Tae-hee, Executive Vice Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, “Through meticulous role division and cooperation between the government and private sector, we were able to meet and build consensus with many BIE member countries in a short period,” adding, “As negotiations progress, we are gaining confidence and accumulating negotiation know-how, and we plan to achieve good results with more effective negotiations during the remaining period.”

Until the host country announcement in November, teamwork between the government and companies is expected to strengthen further. The public-private negotiation team plans to focus on targeting countries that have not yet expressed their positions to solidify support. Additionally, during the April inspection visit, Korean companies will hold invitation meetings and promotional events to firmly impress the inspection team with Korea’s determination to host the Expo.

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