Suwon Takes Determined Steps Toward Becoming 'Suwon in the World'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon is taking determined strides toward building 'Suwon in the world.'

This reflects the city's expanding efforts to position itself as a 'world-leading city' by actively promoting international exchanges with 19 cities across 14 countries on 6 continents and strengthening urban competitiveness.

Indeed, on July 1st at the Tours City Hall in France, Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young and Tours Mayor Christophe Bouchet exchanged a 'memorandum of understanding on friendly cooperation and exchange' and pledged mutual cooperation and exchange.

The exchange of the 'memorandum of understanding on friendly cooperation and exchange' was made after Suwon City readily accepted Tours' request. Jerome Tebaldi, Deputy Mayor of Tours, who attended the 'Local Government International Relations Officials Seminar' held in Daegu in March, requested that Suwon City "hopes to exchange" and "please visit Tours," and Mayor Yeom visited Tours with a delegation from Suwon City.

In February, Suwon concluded a friendly city agreement with Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Suwon had maintained exchanges with Kaohsiung for several years, and this year bore fruit. Officials from Kaohsiung, who were preparing to host an 'Ecological Traffic World Festival,' visited in 2016 to benchmark the Haenggung-dong area where the 'Ecological Traffic Suwon 2013' festival was held.

Kaohsiung held the Ecological Traffic World Festival in October 2017, and Mayor Yeom and a Suwon delegation participated in the festival. Consistent exchange and cooperation led to a friendly city agreement.

As the city expands exchange and cooperation with cities worldwide, it currently has 17 international sister/friendly cities and 2 cities for exchange and cooperation.

Actively exchanging with 19 cities across the world, strengthening friendly relations, and promoting Suwon's excellent policies globally, while also reflecting the positive policies of partner cities into municipal administration.

Cho Cheong-sik, First Vice Mayor of Suwon, recently visited Cluj-Napoca, Romania and Yalova, Turkey—cities commemorating their 20th anniversary of sister city relationships with Suwon—to promote Suwon and Korea and discuss ways to strengthen exchange and cooperation.

Curitiba, Brazil (2006) and Freiburg, Germany (2015), globally recognized environmental cities, are also sister cities. Suwon, which aims to become one of the 'world's three leading environmental cities,' actively exchanges policies with both cities.

To commemorate the sister city relationship with Freiburg, the 'Freiburg Observatory' in the same style as the observation deck in Freiburg's Separk was opened in Gwanggyo Lake Park in March. The Freiburg Observatory has become a landmark of Gwanggyo Lake Park.

Suwon and Freiburg are discussing commemorative projects for their 5th anniversary of sister city relationship (2020), including 'designating Suwon-ro and Freiburg-ro in both cities,' 'implementing mayor exchange work,' and 'cultural and artistic exchanges.'

In Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, which became a sister city in 2004, Suwon established a 'Suwon Village.' In 2007, a plan to develop Suwon Village was established as part of the ODA (Official Development Assistance) project, and the village of Phnom Kraum was selected as Suwon Village, and support projects began.

In the first phase, infrastructure development was supported from 2007 onward, and three phases of support projects were carried out until 2018. Over the course of more than a decade, schools were established to foster residents' self-reliance and prepare for the village's future. In 2016, 'Suwon Middle and High School' was established. After more than a decade, Suwon has become a familiar city to residents of Siem Reap Province.

This year, the fourth phase of support projects began. The direction of the fourth phase includes 'creating income generation and employment opportunities for residents,' 'improving hygiene and health awareness,' and 'establishing a sustainable educational environment.'

A city official stated, "We will expand exchange and cooperation with cities around the world to strengthen urban competitiveness," and "We will make greater efforts to grow into a 'world-leading city' that communicates with the world."