Suwon Designated as Outstanding Organization in Ministry of Foreign Affairs' '2025 Public Diplomacy Excellence Cases'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jung Jun-sung] Suwon announced on the 15th that it has been selected as an outstanding organization (recognized with the Foreign Minister's commendation) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs-organized '2025 Public Diplomacy Excellence Cases,' being the only basic local government to receive this distinction.

The selection as an outstanding organization was recognized for establishing a public diplomacy model with citizen participation.

To shift the foundation of exchanges with international sister cities to a citizen-centered approach, the city designated certain cities with high exchange potential as 'priority cooperation cities' and established and operates the 'International Sister City Citizen Exchange Committee.'

Each committee reflects citizen opinions in policy through regular meetings and city-specific communication systems. It also operates sister city exchange projects in diverse fields such as culture, economy, sports, education, and environment, where citizens can directly discover, propose, and participate.

To expand citizen participation, the city expanded the Citizen Exchange Committee from five cities to seven cities this year. The number of committee members also increased from 95 to 124.

Citizens engage beyond advisory roles, participating in exchange project planning and implementation, serving as substantive private diplomacy actors.

This year, the city established an 'Executive Council' composed of executive members from the seven city committees to create an integrated cooperation system that links and coordinates exchange projects previously pursued individually between cities at the level of all cities.

Based on the Citizen Exchange Committee activities, the city operates exchange events with 'citizen diplomats' participating, including mutual exchanges among sister city citizens and hosting exchange talks with sister city delegations.

A city official stated, "Suwon has enhanced the status of an international city based on citizen-participated public diplomacy, and has demonstrated that basic local governments can also serve as an important axis of national public diplomacy. With this selection as an outstanding organization as an opportunity, we will further expand the foundation of citizen-led urban diplomacy exchanges," the official said.