Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor of Economic Affairs Yeom Tae-young met with Junji Song, Vice Governor of China’s Shandong Province, to discuss the promotion of cooperation between the two regions.

On the afternoon of March 10, in a meeting with Vice Governor Song during his visit to the Gyeonggi Provincial Government complex, Vice Governor Yeom said, “Shandong Province not only holds a leading economic position as an engine of China’s economic growth, it is also the birthplace of Confucian culture, and its refined culture is familiar to us… Gyeonggi Province is Korea’s largest local autonomy, accounting for one-fourth of Korea’s population and economy, and has continued active exchanges based on its geographical proximity to Shandong Province.”

Introducing his relationship with Shandong Province, Vice Governor Yeom added, “Gyeonggi’s Suwon City and Shandong’s Jinan City are sister cities. When I was mayor of Suwon, I sent a congratulatory video message on the occasion of the International Federation of Spring Water Cultural Landscape Cities event held by Jinan City, taking that opportunity to promote friendship between the two cities.”

“Since Gyeonggi Province and Shandong Province signed a sisterhood relationship in 2009, they have been mutually important partners who have continued cooperation in various fields. In the future, I hope to strengthen the role of the Friendship and Cooperation Summit, which is a consultative body of related departments, bolster cooperation in the port sector, and promote exchanges in the fields of science and technology as well as agricultural science and technology,” said Vice Governor Song.

He then expressed his intention to invite Vice Governor Yeom to Shandong Province, saying, “I hope that friendly exchanges will continue through a visit to Shandong Province by the Vice Governor and other officials of Gyeonggi Province.”

Vice Governor Yeom responded, “I thank you for the invitation and expect that the Vice Governor’s visit to Gyeonggi Province will be a step toward the resumption of suspended exchange and cooperation projects… Let’s work together to continue projects beneficial to the welfare of local people, such as the development forum between the Gyeonggi Provincial Research Institute and the Shandong Academy of Social Sciences scheduled for the second half of the year.”

The meeting was held at the request of Vice Governor Song through the invitation of a Shandong Province delegation by Gyeonggi Province.

With a population of approximately 100 million, Shandong Province is the third largest economy in China and receives the lion’s share of Korean companies entering China. It is also the birthplace of Confucius and the location of Mount Tai, a famous mountain in China.

After Gyeonggi Province entered the sisterhood relationship with Shandong Province in China (2009), the two regions established a university exchange conference (2012), engaged in agricultural science and technology exchanges, and held a development forum to explore common pending issues. In addition, various exchange activities have been ongoing, such as participation in international conferences, including the Shandong Province Celebration Month event marking the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and China (2022). In the second half of this year, Gyeonggi Province plans to hold the 2nd general meeting of the Joint Conference for Friendship and Cooperation, a consultative body involving departments that oversee the promotion of inter-regional exchange initiatives, so as to accelerate the discovery of collaborative projects.