Gwangju Mayor Bang Se-hwan: "A Golden Opportunity to Grow as a Forest Industry-Centered City"

Gwangju City Makes All-Out Efforts to Host the 2025 Korea Forest Expo
Application to Host the 2025 Forest Expo Submitted to the Korea Forest Service
On-Site Inspection Team Scheduled to Visit Gwangju in March... Thorough Preparations Underway

Gwangju City announced on the 1st that it held a meeting on the 27th with forest-related organizations and groups, including the Gwangju Seongnam Hanam Forestry Cooperative, to pray for the successful hosting of the ‘2025 Korea Forest Expo.’

Mayor Bang Se-hwan (seventh from the left) is taking a commemorative photo after holding a meeting to pray for the hosting of the '2025 Korea Forest Expo' with forest-related organizations such as the Gwangju Seongnam Hanam Forestry Cooperative on the 27th. Provided by Gwangju City, Gyeonggi Province

The meeting was attended by about 20 officials from forest-related organizations and groups in Gwangju, including the Gwangju Seongnam Hanam Forestry Cooperative, and was organized to discuss cooperation plans for attracting the Korea Forest Expo to Gwangju and to exchange various opinions.

Gwangju City has submitted an application to the Korea Forest Service to host the 2025 Korea Forest Expo, and an on-site inspection team is scheduled to visit Gwangju in March. The city is making every effort to attract the expo through close cooperation with forest-related organizations and groups.

Utilizing the regional condition where forests account for 65%, Gwangju City has sought to shift the paradigm to lead the city’s development by revitalizing the region through forest projects. Accordingly, since 2023, the city has actively participated in various national forest policy and contest projects of the Korea Forest Service, promoting aggressive forest policies such as the development of Neoreungol Natural Recreation Forest, the establishment of a Carbon Neutral Wood Education Comprehensive Center, the creation of an Eco-friendly Wood Observatory, the establishment of a Wood-friendly City, and forest road walking events.

To support these forest policies, the city not only established the Climate Forest Bureau for the first time nationwide through an organizational restructuring in September last year but also strengthened the organization by creating a new Forest Culture Team within the existing forestry department. Furthermore, it continues communication and collaboration with the Korea Forest Service, the National Institute of Forest Science, and the Wood Culture Promotion Association to promote forest culture and wood culture policies.

In particular, based on abundant forest resources and excellent accessibility, the city is showing strong confidence in attracting the Forest Expo to Gwangju as the optimal location to maximize forest policy promotion in the metropolitan area.

Mayor Bang Se-hwan said, “Attracting the Korea Forest Expo is a golden opportunity for Gwangju City to grow into a metropolitan-centered forest industry city,” and urged, “I hope each institution and organization will actively cooperate.”

Kang Seok-o, head of the Gwangju Seongnam Hanam Forestry Cooperative, stated, “We will do our best to ensure that the Forest Expo is held in Gwangju City.”

Meanwhile, the Korea Forest Expo is an event held annually across the country to widely promote the value of forest resources and the importance of sustainable forest management.

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