– A session of provincial governors of three leading regions in Northeast Asia 

The 5th Forum for Tripartite Friendly Exchanges between Gyeonggi Province of Korea, Liaoning Province of China and Kanagwa Province of Japan is scheduled to be held for two days from October 18 under the sponsorship of the Gyeonggi Provincial Office. At the forum, a total of 220-plus people will attend, comprised of local government officials led by Gyeonggi Province Governor Sohn Hak-gyu, Kanagawa Province Governor Matsuzawa Shigefumi and Liaoning Province Governor 장원위에, council members and business people (including those of tourist associations) of the three provinces. 

At the forum held on the theme of Establishment of the Basis for Bolstering Cooperation Among the Three Regions, a series of announcements will be made for launching cooperative projects and individual and joint meetings will be held between the provincial governors as part of the effort for enhancement of friendly relations and joint prosperity of the three leading regions in Northeast Asia. 

The three provincial governors will also make agreements on the following matters: 1) promotion of more positive exchanges and cooperation in trade and investment, 2) invigoration of exchanges between in tourism businesses, including holding periodical tourism-related PR sessions, 3) sharing of information between research institutions for joint coping with epidemics, such as SARS, 4) holding periodical sessions of symposiums, 5) exchanges of sporting events for youths and 6) more positive exchanges between local government officials, NGOs and businesses. 

The tripartite biennial forum has been held to discuss matters for joint cooperation since the first session in Lianoing Province, China in 1996, following the sisterly relations made in the early 1990s. 

The forum has promoted various cooperative projects concerning economy, environment and disaster prevention. The Gyeonggi Province-hosted sporting event for youths of the three provinces and the Northeast Asian Symposium held this year were the results of the suggestion made by Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-gyu at the third forum held in Shenyang in 2002.