Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo (right) meets UNESCO Director-General Khaled el-Anany at BEXCO on Monday morning. [Provided by Busan City]
Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo (right) meets UNESCO Director-General Khaled el-Anany at BEXCO on Monday morning. [Provided by Busan City]

Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo met UNESCO Director-General Khaled el-Anany at BEXCO Exhibition Hall 1 on Monday morning to discuss expanding cooperation in the world heritage sector and broadening international exchange.

The city said the meeting was arranged on the occasion of Busan hosting the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee session, with talks focused on strengthening the city's foundation for World Heritage listing and deepening collaboration in the heritage field.

UNESCO is a specialized UN agency that promotes world peace and human development through international cooperation in education, science and culture, and oversees the inscription and preservation of World Heritage sites.

Mayor Jeon thanked the director-general for visiting Busan as the host city of the World Heritage Committee and put forward proposals to expand ties between the city and UNESCO.

As a follow-up initiative to the committee session, Jeon proposed institutionalizing the "Busan Global Heritage Forum" — a regular platform to address shared global challenges including war, disasters, the climate crisis and digital heritage management. He also called for consideration of establishing a UNESCO Category 2 Center in Busan to serve as an international cooperation hub supporting World Heritage conservation and management through digital technology and capacity-building in developing countries. The mayor also said Busan would work to share the value of "Busan: Wartime Capital of the Korean War" with the international community and strengthen the groundwork for its World Heritage inscription by 2030.

Director-General el-Anany expressed hope that Busan would share its expertise in digital and marine technology as well as heritage preservation with the international community and take a leading role in global heritage conservation. He also conveyed his wish to see "Busan: Wartime Capital of the Korean War" — currently on UNESCO's Tentative List for World Heritage inscription — successfully complete the process by 2030.

Monday's meeting was also attended by Nayef Al-Fayez, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture. The city presented both officials with personal seals engraved with their names in hangul, expressing its hope for continued cooperation and trust.

El-Anany said he was "deeply impressed by Busan, a city that has grown into a great maritime metropolis from its history as a wartime refuge."

Mayor Jeon said the city would "emerge as a close partner working hand in hand with UNESCO, using this World Heritage Committee session as a springboard," and asked for continued attention and support "so that the wartime capital heritage can be inscribed on the World Heritage List and Busan can firmly establish itself as a genuine international cultural heritage hub."


kaf2002@heraldcorp.com