From left: Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Dai Bing, Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo and Consul General of the Chinese Consulate General in Busan Jin Yibiao [Busan city government]
From left: Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Dai Bing, Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo and Consul General of the Chinese Consulate General in Busan Jin Yibiao [Busan city government]

Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo met with Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Dai Bing at the city hall's international protocol room Tuesday afternoon to discuss ways to expand cooperation in economic and trade affairs, maritime industries and tourism, the city government announced Wednesday.

"The foundation for exchanges between Busan and China is growing, with China Eastern Airlines recently launching a Busan-Nanjing route and Rong Air opening a Busan-Hangzhou service," Jeon said. "I hope the people of the two countries will be able to travel more conveniently and deepen their mutual understanding and friendship."

Jeon also said Busan maintains friendly cooperative ties with major Chinese port cities including Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. "As China plays a leading role in the port sector, I hope local governments of the two countries will share policies and data in the maritime and port fields and further expand cooperation," he said.

Jeon pledged to strengthen tourism infrastructure and address visitor inconveniences such as price gouging and poor service. "We will do our utmost to ensure that all visitors, including Chinese tourists, can travel to Busan safely and comfortably," he said.

Ambassador Dai welcomed the remarks, saying he hoped exchanges and cooperation between local governments of the two countries would grow further as South Korea-China relations have been developing encouragingly of late.

He added that economic cooperation between the two countries would evolve into a relationship of competition within cooperation and cooperation within competition. "There is a need to discover new drivers of cooperation in emerging fields such as AI and advanced industries," Dai said.

Dai also described Busan as a leading port city and a beautiful tourist destination representing South Korea. "I hope that more Chinese tourists will visit Busan through the expansion of cruise tourism and other means," he said.

Jeon said the city would work closely with the Chinese Embassy in Seoul to build a future-oriented cooperative relationship grounded in mutual trust.


kaf2002@heraldcorp.com