Seoul City Shares 'Yakjadong Walking Index·Gidong Car' Globally... Tourism Cooperation with Rio

Kim Sang-han, Deputy Mayor, Engages in Global Networking at 'Sao Paulo Urban Summit'
Adopts Joint Declaration... Promotes 'Yakja Donghaeng Index' and 'Climate Companion Card'
Promotes Exchange Between World's Top 3 Festivals 'Rio Carnival' and 'Seoul Festa'

Seoul City attended the 'S?o Paulo Urban Summit' to seek solutions to global urban issues and shared policy know-how such as the Vulnerable Accompaniment Index and Climate Accompaniment Card with delegations from cities around the world. Seoul also explored ways to link one of the world's most famous festivals, the 'Rio Carnival,' with 'Seoul Festa.'

According to Seoul City on the 20th, Kim Sang-han, the First Deputy Mayor for Administration, led the Seoul delegation to attend the 'S?o Paulo Urban Summit,' where three major international events (U20 Mayors' Meeting, ICLEI General Assembly, Metropolis Board Meeting) were held.

Delegation from Seoul attending the 'S?o Paulo Urban Summit' and city representatives gathered after adopting the U20 Joint Declaration.
[Photo by Seoul Metropolitan Government]

The Seoul delegation engaged in activities at the 'S?o Paulo Urban Summit,' including ▲adoption of the U20 joint declaration ▲selection of Seoul as the first ambassador for the newly formed ICLEI Advisory Panel ▲presentation of Seoul's excellent policies at the East Asia Regional Executive Committee ▲promotion of the 2025 Metropolis 40th Anniversary Seoul General Assembly.

First, Deputy Mayor Kim attended the U20 meeting held on the 17th and 18th local time at the Tomi Otake Institute in S?o Paulo, where he adopted the 'U20 Joint Declaration' together with cities from G20 member countries. The core of the declaration is to select three priority tasks based on sustainability and inclusiveness and to declare joint efforts to solve them. The final proclamation will be made at the U20 Mayors' Meeting held again in Rio City alongside the G20 meeting in November.

Seoul City pledged its support and efforts for the adopted joint declaration through an official statement and introduced policies such as the world's first developed 'Vulnerable Accompaniment Index,' which implements the value of 'accompanying the vulnerable,' the '2050 Seoul Climate Action Plan' established in 2022 aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050 and officially approved by C40, and the 'Climate Accompaniment Card.'

Additionally, Deputy Mayor Kim attended the ICLEI World Executive Committee and accepted the ambassador position for the newly established 'ICLEI Advisory Panel' at the ICLEI World Headquarters on behalf of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. The 'ICLEI Advisory Panel' was established for member cities that have contributed significantly to ICLEI over a long period, and Mayor Oh was selected as the first ambassador in recognition of his continuous service as a world executive committee member since 2003 and his status as a leading city. Furthermore, Deputy Mayor Kim attended the 'Metropolis Board Meeting' as a co-chair and director city representative, promoting the 'Metropolis 40th Anniversary General Assembly' to be held in Seoul in 2025 and the 'Smart Life Week' scheduled for October this year in Seoul to the attending major city mayors.

Seoul also established a cooperation system with Rio City. On the 20th, Deputy Mayor Kim visited Rio de Janeiro, famous for the 'Rio Carnival,' one of the world's three major festivals, and met with Nilton Caldeira, Vice Mayor of Rio City, promising cooperation to activate exchanges in tourism and festival sectors between Seoul and Rio. During the meeting, they discussed ways to link and cooperate on tourism and festival content such as Seoul's representative festivals?'Seoul Festa,' 'Relaxing Hangang 3-Event Festival,' 'Seoul Beauty Travel Week,' 'Seoul Winter Light Festival'?with the 'Carnival Festival.'

Deputy Mayor Kim said, "Through the Urban Summit, as the capital city of a G20 country, we were able to introduce Seoul's vision and various policies for solving global urban issues to overseas cities. We will strengthen Seoul's global leadership and spread Seoul's policy know-how, which closely connects the competitiveness of advanced industries with citizens' lives, to cities worldwide."

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