Gyeonggi Province's International Cooperation and Exchange in the 8th Civil Government: "Sowing Seeds for Korea's Future"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] The most distinctive aspect of Gyeonggi Province's activities in the first half of the 8th civil government is undoubtedly its international exchange and diplomatic activities. Governor Kim Dong-yeon has met with key figures from around the world, putting forward an "Innovation Alliance" to leverage various global crises—including advanced industries, climate, and economic challenges—as new opportunities. It is also noteworthy that key figures from around the world have visited Gyeonggi Province rather than the province merely visiting them. The variety of people met has been diverse, from major American politicians to presidents, prime ministers, ambassadors of major countries working in Korea, and global business leaders. Over approximately 2 years from the launch of the 8th civil government through June, Governor Kim Dong-yeon has met approximately 160 key figures from 37 countries. This article summarizes the first half of the 8th civil government's international cooperation and diplomatic efforts, sowing seeds for Korea's future.

■ Meeting with Foreign Key Figures and Pursuing Economic Exchange Innovation Alliance

The United States is by far the country Gyeonggi Province has met with most frequently to strengthen international cooperation and exchange. Shortly after taking office, Governor Kim visited the eastern region of the United States and formed consensus with Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan on the Innovation Alliance regarding strategic projects such as eco-friendly mobility and secondary batteries. He also agreed with Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia through a phone call to activate relations between the two regions.

After returning home the same month, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida visited with an international trade delegation, held a trade and investment partnership event, and decided to expand economic exchanges between the two regions and proposed an Innovation Alliance in strategic industries such as biotechnology and solar power generation. Prior to the Florida governor's visit, the two regions held a webinar between Gyeonggi Province and Florida on the theme of business and investment environment in Florida.

Governor Kim participated in the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year, exchanging with political and economic figures from around the world and had informal talks with Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia, USA. In May, he met with all four governors from four U.S. states—California, Washington, Arizona—and Canadian province BC to establish a cooperation system.

In California, he met with Governor Gavin Newsom and agreed to resume friendly cooperative relations between the two regions for the first time in 12 years, deciding to pursue exchanges and cooperation in climate change response, advanced industries, startups, and human exchange. With Washington and Arizona, he opened the door to cooperation and exchange. Both regions were uncharted territory for Gyeonggi Province in exchange, marking the first gubernatorial visit to each. In Arizona, he met with Governor Katie Hobbs and concluded a friendly cooperation agreement. In Canadian province BC, which maintains a sister city relationship with Gyeonggi Province, he received treatment equivalent to a state visit and further solidified the exchange and cooperation relationship between the two regions. In particular, contrary to expectations that attendance would be difficult due to massive wildfires, Prime Minister David Eby visited Governor Kim, demonstrating a solid bond.

The relationship with San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria has continued to produce good results, which is noteworthy. Governor Kim Dong-yeon met with Mayor Gloria, who visited Korea with the San Diego Economic Delegation in October last year. Governor Kim showed sincerity by delaying his departure by one day and arranging a welcome schedule on Sunday, a holiday. This left a deep impression not only on Mayor Gloria but also on the 38 economic delegation members present. Subsequently, San Diego visited Siheung City, which Gyeonggi Province connected through the biotechnology industry, and concluded an economic cooperation agreement. UC San Diego, which was part of the San Diego economic delegation, decided to participate in the Gyeonggi Youth Ladder Program this year. During his North American visit, Governor Kim visited BioComm CA, America's largest biotechnology association, and Illumina, a leading company in genomic analysis research, proposing cooperation, and both were members of the San Diego economic delegation.

Notable cooperative relationships were also established in exchanges with China. During his visit to China in November last year, Governor Kim met with Hao Feng, Party Secretary of Liaoning Province, and Xu Lifeng, Member of the Chinese Central Political Bureau and Deputy Prime Minister of the State Council in charge of economy, to discuss strengthening inter-provincial government exchange and cooperation. In particular, Deputy Prime Minister Xu Lifeng, a key figure overseeing China's economy, was well-evaluated for discussing economic issues and strengthening exchanges during a critical period of Korea-China cooperation. Party Secretary Hao Feng visited Gyeonggi Province in April and held a second meeting with Governor Kim, deepening the 31-year achievements between Liaoning Province and Gyeonggi Province and concluding an in-depth cooperation agreement to strengthen cooperation in the fields of economy, industry, culture, sports, and education. Party Secretary Hao, who visited Korea at Governor Kim's invitation, also met with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol during his stay. This was the first visit by a Chinese provincial party secretary since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, and it is significant in that the local government cooperation between Gyeonggi Province and Liaoning Province has contributed to improving Korea-China relations.

Extensive exchange activities were also conducted with foreign ambassadors to Korea. Since meeting with Ambassador Philip Goldberg, U.S. Ambassador to Korea, in November 2022, Governor Kim Dong-yeon watched the opening game of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) league held in Suwon in April 2023 with the ambassador, strengthening cooperative relations in innovative economy through "baseball diplomacy." Subsequently, in September, he visited Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek with the U.S. Ambassador to Korea and met with General Paul LaCamera, Commander of U.S. Forces Korea, General Willard Burleson, Commander of the U.S. 8th Army, and Lieutenant General Ryan Keeney, Deputy Commander of the U.S. 7th Air Force, to discuss ways to enhance communication and cooperation between Gyeonggi Province and the U.S. Forces in Korea, continuing regular meetings for the Innovation Alliance. Numerous diplomats including Colin Crooks, British Ambassador to Korea, Xing Haiming, Chinese Ambassador to Korea, and Aris Bigants, Latvian Ambassador to Korea, are also maintaining cooperative relations with Gyeonggi Province. Additionally, he met with key figures from various countries including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Polish Sejm Speaker Andrzej Jaroch, Catalan President Pere Aragonès, Île-de-France President Valérie Pécresse, and Vietnamese State President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc to discuss cooperation measures.

■ Multi-faceted Efforts to Attract Overseas Investment

The field to which the 8th civil government of Gyeonggi Province has devoted the most effort in international exchange is undoubtedly attracting overseas investment. Governor Kim, who attended the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year, engaged in exchanges with people around the world while also encouraging global business leaders to invest in Gyeonggi Province.

Particularly impressive was a special session titled "Gyeonggi Province and Innovators" in which Governor Kim Dong-yeon participated as a moderator during the Davos Forum. In this session, Governor Kim stated, "Gyeonggi Province is the center of Korea's economy and advanced industries," and requested investment in the province from global startups. Governor Kim actively promoted that Gyeonggi Province is the optimal location for investment, promoting the "Pangyo+20 Project," which aims to create 660,000 square meters (2 million pyeong) of startup space in 20 or more regional hubs centered on Pangyo Techno Valley, Korea's Silicon Valley. Startup representatives who participated in the session showed positive responses such as "We want to do business with Korea related to advanced mobility industries," increasing the possibility of future investment attraction.

There have been cases where such efforts have led to actual investment. During a North American business trip in May this year, Governor Kim held two video conferences with a global semiconductor materials company A to attract investment and encourage investment. Even though the chief executive officer did not attend the first meeting, Governor Kim did not give up and requested a second meeting, and at the second meeting, the chief executive officer expressed willingness to make a large-scale investment of 1 billion dollars.

■ Solidarity with Local Governments and International Organizations Around the World

Gyeonggi Province is strengthening solidarity through contact with international organizations and local governments around the world for mutual cooperation in various fields.

Governor Kim Dong-yeon discussed the activation of mutual tourism exchange with Thailand's Tourism and Sports Minister Pipat Rachakitprakarn in July and held the "2023 Gyeonggi Tourism Briefing in Bangkok" to attract overseas tourists to Gyeonggi Province. In October, he visited Liaoning Province, the first province to establish a sister city relationship with Gyeonggi Province, to strengthen exchange at the level of China-Korea metropolitan local governments, and jointly held a tourism cooperation exchange meeting for the first time following the resumption of Chinese group tourism. About 20 days after Governor Kim's visit to Liaoning Province, an economic and trade delegation composed of 28 companies from Liaoning Province visited Gyeonggi Province and held a Gyeonggi Province-Liaoning Province economic and trade seminar.

Taking on the role of a "climate governor," active steps to respond to climate crises around the world have also been pursued. During a visit to Thailand in July 2023, he met with UNESCAP Executive Secretary Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and UNEP Asia-Pacific Office Director Dechen Shering to discuss environmental issues including the role of local governments in responding to climate change. At this meeting, Governor Kim Dong-yeon stated, "Unlike the slow response of the Korean government, Gyeonggi Province is acting most aggressively on climate change in Korea. One of my nicknames is 'Climate Governor,'" demonstrating strong determination to respond to climate crisis.

Last month, he met with Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington, known as "America's Climate Governor," and shared recognition on joint response to climate crisis, while also aligning on the composition of a working-level council to further solidify cooperation.