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Luncheon meeting of the Governors Association of Korea (GAOK) representing 17 provinces and statutory cities of Korea with foreign missions.

On 3rd December, a luncheon meeting of the Governors Association of Korea with representatives of foreign missions was held. Gustav Slamečka attended on behalf of the Czech Republic. In total, 100 people actively participated the event. The luncheon meeting was attended by 12 provincial governors and officials in charge of public diplomacy and foreign relations of Korean provinces and statutory cities. On behalf of foreign missions, ambassadors or their representatives from 59 different countries attended. The meeting was prepared at a high organizational and content standard.

The main aim of the event was to promote public diplomacy, networking between provinces and foreign missions, as well as to introduce the main events that will take place in the upcoming year.

The Ambassador had the opportunity to interact with representatives of several provinces. The interactions with the representatives of Seoul and Busan were particularly valuable and future meetings were agreed upon. The welcome speech was delivered by Song Ha-jin, Governor of Jeollabuk-do Province and current President of GAOK (the presidency is for one year). This was followed by a presentation on GAOK, focusing on public diplomacy activities and the activities of GAOK's overseas representative offices. GAOK has foreign offices in six countries - Japan, China, Australia, USA, France

and UK (18 people in total). Representatives received a list of 129 events to be hosted by provinces and statutory cities in the coming year. Some events were then presented in more detail in the presentations.

The GAOK events and plans only underlined the importance of embassy liaison in the field of public diplomacy, joint projects in science and research and education not only at central level but also at provincial and statutory city level. So-called 'glocalisation' is on the rise in Korea and is seen as evidence of the country's democratization. This is matched by the resources invested by provinces and cities to support public diplomacy and to establish partnerships that can be put to good use by missions.