Busan gets ready for ITU conference

BUSAN ― The Korea Communications Commission is getting ready to hold the plenipotentiary conference of the International Telecommunication Union in Busan in 2014, selecting BEXCO as its location.

The event is planned to take place for three weeks from Oct. 20, bringing together about 3,000 people, including representatives from government, international organizations and businesses in 193 nations.

“We’re planning to show Korea has changed its position from a country with strong information and communication technology infrastructure to one that could become the center of diplomatic relations in ICT,” said a KCC official.

“The major ICT issues such as cloud computing, green ICT, near-field communication technology and fifth-generation communications technology are expected to be dealt with during the three-week event.”

The conference will be held at BEXCO’s 26,500-square-meter Exhibition Center 1, according to organizers. It will also use the newly renovated Exhibition Center 2, which has 20,000 square meters of exhibition space and an auditorium.

The ITU plenipotentiary conference is a meeting launched every four years by the ITU, which is an organization that specializes in deciding standards for radio and telecommunications.

The KCC won approval to host the event at the previous plenipotentiary conference in Mexico in October 2010, and Busan, Seoul and Jeju were the three candidate cities for the event.

“I believe we received good evaluations due to multiple factors like the appropriate location, surrounding environment and the great hotels,” said Busan mayor Hur Nam-sik.

According to Hur, Busan plans to feature the advanced traffic system and the nation’s high-tech infrastructure to also raise the city’s brand power internationally.

The conference is estimated to generate 350 billion won ($308.47 million) economically and boost tourism and employment in the nation’s second-biggest metropolitan city, he said.

“The plenipotentiary conference could become an opportunity in the field of tourism and convention businesses here and also the chance to raise the IT competitiveness in Busan,” said Hur. “This is ultimately an opportunity and we plan to make the most use of it.”

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)