05-26-2009

By Do Je-hae, Staff Reporter (Korea Times)

Mayors and officials from 22 countries will gather in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, from today through Friday to discuss economic and cultural partnerships at the 4th UN Silk Road Mayors’ Forum.

The Pyeongtaek City administration announced Tuesday that mayors from 46 cities across Central and Northeast Asia and Europe will exchange views on the forum’s main theme of “a future of affluence through multilateral cooperation” for countries that once formed a network along the Silk Road.

Governor Kim Moon-soo of Gyeonggi Province will meet with officials from Japan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan among others.

The main focus of the gathering is to discuss ways to speed up industrial cooperation by forming new transportation networks and logistics facilities.

They will also explore possibilities to bolster the tourism industry among Silk Road nations.

“We see the forum as an occasion to contribute to advancing Korea’s recent diplomatic initiatives for closer ties with Silk Road nations,” Pyeongtaek Mayor Song Myeong-ho said in a statement.

“We also wish to use this opportunity to globalize our province and publicize the latest developments of the West Sea Free Economic Zone,” he said.

Representatives from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) will take part in the event.

The UNDP first launched the event in 2000 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and it has since been held in Lanzhou, northwestern China, and Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan.

jhdo@koreatimes.co.kr

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/05/116_45711.html