A race to host the 2030 World Expo is coming down to the wire. The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) will hold a general assembly in Paris, France, on Nov. 28 (local time) to select the host country for the 2030 World Expo.
Korea started its bid about one year later than its rivals such as Saudi Arabia, so there were many negative opinions that the rivals would rout Korea in the race. Recently, however, the Korean government’s judgment is that the situation has changed with the winner up in the air.
The host of the 2030 Expo will be decided by the 182 BIE member countries with one vote per country, unlike the United Nations or the International Monetary Fund, where countries have more votes based on their national influence or economic power. In other words, a candidate that receives votes from more countries, even just one more, has an advantage.
The owners and CEOs of large Korean corporations are among those who have volunteered to participate in this strategy to meet as many representatives from BIE member countries as they can until the start of the voting time. Like the late Korean business tycoons Chung Ju-young and Lee Kun-hee, who orchestrated projects to bring the 1988 Summer Olympics to Seoul and the 2018 Winter Olympics to Pyeongchang, respectively, they have a sense of having to accomplish a national mission, business insiders say.
“If the head of a big Korean business group will visit some developing European countries, the country’s president and prime minister will welcome the head in person with a big interest in his or her visit to the country,” said a senior official of the Korean business community. “Korean large companies’ requests are often more powerful than those of the Korean government.”
Chey Tae-won, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and a co-chair of the World Expo 2030 Busan Bid Committee is a prime example. The moment when Chairman Chey appealed for support for Busan while raising his crutches in Paris, France, this June showed how strong Korean business leaders’ wish is to see Busan selected as the host of the World Expo in 2030 whether the Korean port city is awarded the honor or not. At the time, Chey was unable to walk without the aid of the crutches. Chey and the SK Group CEOs have met with more than 900 high-ranking officials from more than 180 countries. Chey had already been in Paris, France, since the beginning of November, but as requests from European and Latin American countries to meet Chey continued, he recently visited seven countries in less than a month. It was a journey of flying 22,000 kilometers or halfway around the world.
Earlier this month, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong traveled to the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. The trip was timed to coincide with a summit of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), a regional organization of Pacific island nations. Lee introduced Samsung’s global social contribution program, “Samsung Solve for Tomorrow,” in a bid to win support from those countries.
Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun has been visiting global production centers and attending government-level bidding events overseas to drum up support for the Busan Expo bid. Hyundai Motor Group was the first large Korean business group to form a dedicated group-wide organization in August 2021 and has since met with high-level officials on more than 40 occasions in more than 20 countries.
LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo also flew into Africa in October and toured BIE member countries to solicit support for Busan from them. The company has not been able to properly publicize some events for fear of leaking secrets to Busan’s rival Saudi Arabia. “Chairman Koo realized that Busan hosting the World Expo in 2030 can have a positive impact on Korea’s entire business ecosystems beyond just LG,” said an LG official. Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin has also been drawing on his global business network to target key political and business figures and global corporate leaders at home and abroad. In June, Shin invited 30 ambassadors to Korea to Busan to ask for their support for Busan.
Some experts made positive comments that Busan’s Expo bid has opened up another window of opportunity for Korean business leaders. By visiting less known countries such as those in Africa, the heads of large corporations have had opportunities to open their eyes to new markets and attend resources development such as rare earths.