Yangcheon-gu held a meeting Wednesday with a delegation from the French-Korean Parliamentary Friendship Association, discussing ways to expand inter-city cooperation, the district office said.
The district began exchanges with the 17th arrondissement of Paris in 2021 and signed a sister-city agreement in 2022. In 2023, District Mayor Lee Gi-jae visited Paris's 17th arrondissement at the delegation's invitation, continuing a relationship built on steady exchanges.
The visit was arranged at the delegation's request during its official trip to South Korea. Attendees included Catherine Dumas, president of the French-Korean Parliamentary Friendship Association, along with other association officials and staff from the French Embassy in Seoul.
Lee, accompanied by the deputy district mayor and the head of the administrative support bureau, greeted the delegation at the district office's main entrance with a bouquet of flowers.
During the meeting, both sides exchanged views on expanding cooperation between Yangcheon-gu and the Paris 17th in culture, education and urban policy.
The two sides agreed to pursue a range of joint projects based on shared interests, including inter-city festival exchanges, cultural exchanges centered on K-food and K-pop, and expanded cooperation in education.
After the meeting, the delegation visited Mokdong Paris Park — created to mark the centenary of diplomatic relations between South Korea and France — and toured the park following its first renovation in 30 years. They then moved to Yongwangsan Neighborhood Park, where they walked the barrier-free deck trail of the Yongwangsan Skywalk, a new Seoul landmark. There they observed the district's efforts in creating urban green spaces and designing parks accessible to people with limited mobility.
Yangcheon-gu said it plans to use the visit as an opportunity to further solidify its cooperative foundation with the Paris 17th and continue expanding the relationship across a range of fields.
"This visit has been an opportunity to take the cooperative relationship between Yangcheon-gu and the Paris 17th to the next level," Lee said. "Building on the trust we have accumulated, we will broaden people-to-people exchanges in areas such as culture, education and urban policy, and further strengthen a practical and sustainable foundation for cooperation."
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