At the 173rd General Assembly of the International Exhibition Organization (BIE) held in Paris, France, Korea received 29 votes, far behind Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, which swept 119 votes.
Third place Rome, Italy, had 17 votes and no abstention. If a country wins more than two-thirds of the participating countries in the venue selection vote, it will win as it is, otherwise the final vote will proceed. Saudi Arabia received 119 votes, more than two-thirds of the 165 countries that participated in the vote, exceeding 110 votes, and was selected as the venue for the 2030 Expo without a final vote.
In second place, conglomerates such as Samsung, Hyundai-Kia Motors, SK, LG, and Lotte appealed to Asia, Europe, and Africa, but there was a big difference in Saudi Riyadh. South Korea has announced that the government and private companies strive to do their best in all media and broadcasting, but their interests are ambiguous despite the prominent participation of Korean companies in the construction of Saudi Nem City. In addition, he expressed Saudi bin Salman’s visit to Korea and the South Korean president’s visit to Sauni, attracting oil money and expressing himself as Korea’s No. 1 salesman.
South Korea is comforting that it has achieved diplomatic asset results in its bid to host Saudi Arabia. Prince Bin Salman could unleash Saudi Arabia’s 2030 new economic vision. Although there were concerns about religion and oil money, it is expected that economic values and plans can be further realized by attracting international event expos.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
