▲ Participating in the 6th East Asia Local and Regional Government Congress

Heo Seung Wook, the Vice Governor for Provincial Affairs of Chungcheongnam-do, visited Japan from October 23 to 28 to attend the 6th East Asia Local and Regional Government Congress and to discuss Japanese agriculture.

Launched at the initiative of Governor Shogo Arai of Nara Prefecture, the meeting provides a venue for leaders of local governments in East Asia including Korea, China, and Japan, among others, to gather together and engage in in-depth discussions on tasks and challenges facing the local governments, with the ultimate goal of realizing the steady development of East Asia and building trust and friendship.

A total of 66 local governments of 7 countries are registered as members of the meeting. Korea’s upper-level local governments participating in the meeting this year include Chungcheongnam-do, Gyeonggi-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and two cities in Chungcheongnam-do including Gongju and Seosan.

On the first day of the visit, Vice Governor Heo went to the Back-to-Earth Farming Support Center in Tokyo Kotsu Kaikan (Tokyo Traffic Hall) and its antenna shops, where he was briefed on the recent trend of Japanese people returning to farming.

On the second day, he visited Yamanashi Prefecture and learned about cases of creating agriculture-based local networks for coexistence at Egao Tsunagete (えがおつなげて), a non-profit organization that plays a leading role in connecting cities and farming areas. On the third day, he went to Nara Prefecture, with which Chungcheongnam-do maintains friendly relations, and attended the opening ceremony of the International Travel Fair and a meeting of local governments.

On October 26, Vice Governor Heo delivered a keynote lecture on innovations in the three areas of agriculture, agricultural community, and farmers at 6th East Asia Local and Regional Government Congress and joined the leaders’ discussion on how to strengthen cross-border cooperation in promoting agriculture and agricultural communities.

On October 27, Heo visited Nara Prefectural University and discussed ways of expanding cooperation with Chungnam State University. In addition, he discussed a plan for celebrating the 5th anniversary of the establishment of friendly relations between Nara Prefecture and Chungcheongnam-do before returning to Korea.

Chungcheongnam-do and Nara Prefecture have been working closely together to promote exchanges in various fields including culture, with the aim of building mutual understanding and mutual prosperity since entering into a memorandum of understanding on cultural and tourism exchanges in 2008.