By Diplomacy Journal Lee Jon-young

Ansan City announced that an economic delegation, headed by Mayor Lee Min-geun officially visited Dresden, Germany on April 24 (local time) and held a meeting to explore international cooperation.

At the meeting, the two cities discussed mutual strategies for building a high-tech semiconductor cluster and attracting global companies while exploring ways to cooperate in the future.

Dresden is the capital of the state of Saxony, located in eastern Germany, 189 kilometers south of the capital Berlin. It is one of the important cities of the former East Germany, which was rebuilt after World War II, and has been developing vigorously, especially since the reunification of Germany in 1990. 

Dresden, the 12th most populous city in Germany, has developed various industries such as aircraft, automobiles, and precision optical equipment and machinery, forming an industrial structure similar to Ansan.

At the meeting, Ansan City Mayor Lee Min-geun said that after the first international exchange with Aachen Special Economic Zone in Germany, he was positive about the second international cooperation and hoped to promote exchanges with overseas cities with similar industrial structures.

“As this meeting has opened the door for exchanges, we hope to continue our valuable ties and create tangible results through practical global diplomacy,” said Mayor Lee. “Let us continue to communicate and cooperate between the two regions, and gradually expand the scope of mutually beneficial exchanges in economic, business, and cultural fields,” he suggested.

In response, Jan Praczka, Deputy Mayor of Dresden, said, “I would like to sincerely welcome the economic delegation from Ansan City to Dresden. I am very excited that this meeting is the start of a formal international exchange with our city.”

“Given the similarities in industrial structure between Ansan and Dresden, there are many possibilities for future cooperation between our cities,” he said. “We will positively consider signing an international relationship with Ansan City to focus on exchanges in areas of interest such as the robotics industry and business exchanges, which Ansan City has been focusing on recently.”

Meanwhile, the Ansan City Economic Delegation began its official schedule with Aachen Special Economic Zone City on April 19 and participated in the Hannover Messe for two days from April 22 to grasp global trends in new industries and new technologies. 

Mayor Lee Min-geun and the economic delegation are focusing on promoting Ansan's attractive investment environment by conducting a number of IR pitches for local companies.