Governor Nam Kyung-pil of Gyeonggi Province met with a delegation from Tula State, Russia, on Nov. 10 and discussed ways for mutual cooperation between the two regions including human exchange.

In the meeting with the delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Denis Tikhonov, Governor Nam was debriefed on the general situation of Tula State including its economy, investment, and environment and exchanged opinions on possible areas of mutual cooperation.

The major industries of Tula State are chemical, machinery, metal, foods, and electronics. More than 200 foreign companies from the US, Germany, UK, etc., are now operating in Tula State, one of the representative industrial regions in Russia recording 2.294 billion dollars of trade surplus last year.

Governor Nam welcomed the delegation, noting that Tula State is the hometown of Tolstoy, a great Russian writer. He thinks that the common ground of the two regions is that Tula State is adjacent to Moscow, just as Gyeonggi Province surrounds Seoul.

“It is essential for local autonomous governments in Russia and Korea to activate exchanges and promote economic cooperation to realize more mature, sustainable development between the two nations. In particular, I hope you will have the opportunity to look at the companies in Pangyo Techno Valley during your next visit to Korea,” he said.

According to Governor Nam, a win-win relationship can be achieved if the excellent scientific technologies of Russia and the hi-tech IT technologies of Gyeonggi Province are shared. He proposed commencing human exchange in the field of science and IT to learn the strong points of each other and promote understanding. More ideas for mutual exchange and cooperation can be developed if the persons concerned at schools and companies in Gyeonggi Province visit Tula State, he added.

“Tula State, too, puts emphasis on IT and bio industries, and it is trying to develop such industries. I will be happy to support exchange student programs if Korean universities want to have relationships with the universities in Tula State,” Deputy Prime Minister Denis Tikhonov said with regard to active exchanges with Gyeonggi Province.

Gyeonggi Province signed friendship and cooperation agreements with Sverdlovsk in 2012 and Vladivostok in 2013. It will begin to make efforts to promote human exchange and cooperation for investment with Tula State, with the meeting with the delegation serving as a starting point.