Campaign for Expo revs up as race enters final stretch

With about 100 days left until the final decision on the host country of the 2030 World Expo is made in Paris, Korea is ramping up efforts to rally support for Busan’s bid to bring home the mega event.

Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang, left, speaks during a meeting to review the ongoing campaign activities to rally support for Busan's bid to host the World Expo in 2030, held in central Seoul on Thursday. [NEWS1]

With about 100 days left until the final decision on the host country of the 2030 World Expo is made in Paris, Korea is ramping up efforts to rally support for Busan’s bid to bring home the mega event.

As the competition against Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and Italy’s Rome remains intense, Lee Chang-yang, minister of trade, industry and energy, on Thursday called for “utmost efforts” from the government and private companies to win the expo bid.

“The number of countries that are supporting our bid has increased significantly over the past year since the government launched the bid committee for the Busan World Expo in July last year,” said Lee during a meeting in central Seoul to review the ongoing campaign to rally support for the expo bid.

However, “other candidate cities are all very strong contenders, and they are all playing to their strengths, so the competition is very tough,” stressed the minister, calling for the government and private companies for “utmost efforts” through the upcoming 100 days.

The attendees include officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office for Government Policy Coordination under the prime minister, the Bid Committee for World Expo 2030 Busan and the Busan city office.

Along with the government offices, Korea’s top conglomerates including SK, Samsung and Hyundai have been actively reaching out to member countries of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) in lobbying efforts to promote Busan’s bid to hold the World Expo in 2030.

The member states of the BIE, the intergovernmental organization that oversees the World Expo, will make a final selection by secret ballot on Nov. 28.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]