BUSAN -- The inspection team of the Bureau International des Expositions, the organizing body of the World Expo, departed Korea Friday as they ended their assessment of Busan as the proposed site for the 2030 World Expo.
The eight-member delegation -- chaired by BIE Administration and Budget Committee President Patrick Specht -- left Gimhae Airport in western Busan at around 8:30 a.m. to head to Incheon Airport. They then departed South Korea at around 11:30 a.m. to head back to Paris, where the BIE headquarters is located.
The BIE said in a statement that Busan's candidature dossier, submitted in September and presented over the course of this week, "outlines a vision for a World Expo addressing the fundamental changes required for the formation of a new, sustainable relationship between nature, technology and humankind."
This statement followed abundant demonstrations of citizen enthusiasm for Busan hosting the International Registered Expo in 2030. For example, some 750,000 people are estimated to have gathered at Gwangalli Beach, a scenic spot in Busan, to watch fireworks Thursday night. This massive gathering followed Tuesday's greeting of the delegation by some 5,000 citizens at Busan Station.
According to the BIE, "public support for the (World Expo) project" is one of the elements being assessed by the delegation.
Enna Park, who is head of the Busan-based committee of civic groups supporting the city's candidature, said Friday Busan's bid to host the World Expo "differentiates itself from that of our competitors, in that civil society here is playing a central role” in spontaneously promoting Busan's World Expo bid.
"We’ve been getting an endless string of phone calls over the past month before the 5,000-strong greeting event took place at Busan Station, asking us what they could do to take part in the greeting," Park told the news conference held at the Westin Josun Busan, referring to Tuesday's citizens' greeting of the delegation.
"We could not allow all of them to participate in the crowd," she said.
Park's comments came a day after Specht said, "We had been enthusiastically greeted by the citizens of Busan, ... The welcome that was given to us by the citizens of Busan showed really the support for the project of Expo 2030."
Park serves as the chair of the executive committee of the Citizens Committee World Expo 2030 Busan Korea, which has built ties with some 200 civic and religious groups here to garner support for Busan to host the 2030 World Expo.
The citizens committee added that it is looking to forge ties with international civil society as well to gain an upper hand in the race to win the competition to host the World Expo in 2030.
This effort stems from hopes for worldwide civic endorsement of the "Busan Initiative," a proposal designed to set up a platform to address challenges and crises in underdeveloped parts of the world.
"We are coming up with plans to convey our enthusiasm to host the World Expo here to civil society elsewhere so that their voices can be heard by the decision-making government bodies of other countries," Park said.
Park continued that she is "looking to take advantage of her own overseas networks to help government-led negotiations as a representative of Busan’s civil society."
Busan is scheduled to make its final presentation in Paris before the BIE member nations in June, as the vote for the World Expo host country is to take place in November. Busan is competing with Riyadh of Saudi Arabia, Rome of Italy and Odesa of Ukraine.
