About 90 officials, including working-level committee members from the three regions, attend the session to review 2026 cooperation tasks and share newly identified projects for 2027

Busan City Hall [Busan city government]
Busan City Hall [Busan city government]

The Busan-Ulsan-South Gyeongsang Province Supra-Regional Economic Alliance Promotion Headquarters is holding the "2026 First-Half Busan-Ulsan-South Gyeongsang Supra-Regional Grand Division Working Council" Monday at 2 p.m. at the convention hall of Busan City Hotel. About 90 officials are attending, including Kim Gyeong-deok, administrative vice mayor of Busan, and working-level committee members from the three local governments involved in supra-regional cooperation projects.

The working council was convened to share progress on the 2026 Busan-Ulsan-South Gyeongsang Economic Alliance cooperation agenda and to discuss newly identified supra-regional cooperation projects for 2027 and their direction going forward. The session covers a report on current Economic Alliance issues, a review of key tasks by subcommittee, coordination of differences among the three governments, and a briefing on newly identified 2027 supra-regional cooperation projects and their planned direction.

Also on the agenda is a session dedicated to sharing the results of 2027 cooperation projects jointly identified by the three regions in response to the central government's plan to establish a new supra-regional special budget account — a core instrument of its "Five Poles, Three Specials" national balanced-growth strategy. The council will also discuss a joint approach to securing budget allocations for those projects.

The three local governments have identified 13 cooperation projects for 2027, centered on four key sectors: shipbuilding, future mobility and next-generation energy, among others. The council plans to share the follow-up direction for those projects.

Lee O-sun, head of the city's Busan-Ulsan-South Gyeongsang Supra-Regional Economic Alliance Promotion Headquarters, said cooperation and a unified response among the three governments are essential for the region to merge into a single economic zone and emerge as a second national growth engine. "I hope this becomes an opportunity to build consensus on the key issues in each subcommittee and to move forward swiftly, starting with tasks where agreement is within reach," Lee said.


kaf2002@heraldcorp.com