04 June 2024, Seoul. The Philippine Embassy in Seoul represented by Ambassador Theresa Dizon-De Vega, looked forward to closer smart city and administrative city development cooperation, in a meeting presided over by Mr. Hyeong Ryeol Kim, Administrator of the National Agency for Administrative City Construction (NAACC) of the Republic of Korea on 16 May 2024.

Ambassador De Vega welcomed the key concepts of the ROK’s Administrative City as well as provided updates on the developments in the roll out of the Sejong Administrative City as presented by the NAACC. Administrator Kim also shared that the main objective of the administrative city concept is to achieve balanced national development and increased national competitiveness. NAACC also aims to create a self-sufficient city with a population of 500,000 by 2030. Among the mechanisms which the NAACC will utilize to realize more international cooperation will be MOUs, High-level Technical Meetings, Capacity-Building, Private Sector Collaboration, and ODA support.

The Philippines and the Republic of Korea continue to work together for increased international cooperation and engagement in terms of sharing smart and sustainable city best practices. In 2022, the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) of the Philippines and the Republic of Korea’s Land and Housing Corporation (LH) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on development cooperation to build a smart city at the Clark Freeport Zone. The Philippines looks forward to closer cooperation with the Republic of Korea in the development of future-oriented cities. END