By Diplomacy Journal Lee Kap-soo

Mayor Lee Min-geun of Ansan City, Gyeonggi Province, met with German Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Georg Schmidt on March 27 to exchange views on German immigration policy and Ansan's foreigner policy.

Germany enacted the Immigration Act in 2005 and established the Federal Office for Immigration and Refugees to carry out immigration policies in organic cooperation with local governments. 

In particular, in recent years, the country has been actively allowing the immigration of highly skilled global talents to solve the problem of shortage of skilled manpower in IT and telecommunications, medical care, and childcare.

On the same day, German Ambassador to Korea Georg Schmidt expressed his impressions of Germany's long-standing immigration policy in light of Ansan City's stance to attract the immigration agency.

"Through the visit of the German Embassy to our city, I learned that 'integration' determines the success of immigration policy," said Lee Min-geun, mayor of Ansan City. "We will make further efforts to spread the value of Ansan as a mutual cultural city where people from all over the world interact and exchange."

Meanwhile, Ansan and Germany have been enjoying strong ties in the industrial and economic fields. In April last year, Ansan City visited Aachen Special Economic Zone in Germany and signed an implementation agreement to promote friendly cooperation in the hydrogen field, and in June, an economic mission from Aachen Special Economic Zone visited Ansan City. 

In January of this year, Ansan also presented the free economic zone in Ansan Science Valley at an event organized by the Korea-Germany Chamber of Commerce and Industry.