Today, the President of the Government of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès i Garcia, began the second day of his official visit to the Republic of Korea with a meeting with the Mayor of Incheon, Yoo Jeong-bok. From Incheon, the country’s third-largest city, Aragonès announced that the Catalan Government will open“work channels so that the Fire Brigade, the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Civil Protection Service can also engage in experience and learning exchange” with the emergency services of the Korean city, especially in terms of communication and emergency situation management techniques, bearing in mind that “they are very highly trained”.

The meeting, which took place at the Town Hall, focused on the management of emergencies and catastrophes, as Incheon has“a very advanced system from the technological and emergency management point of view”. He explained that this “is of special interest to Catalonia” in terms of “warnings to citizens” from Civil Protection, Fire Brigades and Police and the Mossos d’Esquadra police force.

The head of the Catalan Government, who has been accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Action and European Union, Meritxell Serret i Aleu, emphasised that in recent years, in terms of civil protection and emergency prevention, in Catalonia“we have developed a very ambitious policy of contact with citizens”, and he recalled that pilot tests and simulations have been carried out practically throughout the territory, with alerts sent to citizens’ mobile phones. That is why learning about the communication and emergency situation management techniques carried out in the metropolis of Incheon are so important, as“this is of great interest to the Government of Catalonia”.

Incheon is the third-largest city in the Republic of Korea, after Seoul and Busan, and is recognised as a transport hub. It has a major port and the country’s largest airport, which is a pioneer in security protocols and technology. It is the city with“the greatest economic projection in South Korea, especially in the field of semiconductors and also in the pharmaceutical industry”, the President concluded in a statement to the press.

The meeting with the Mayor of Incheon was a first contact with the city in order to explore avenues of collaboration in areas of interest such as advanced technologies, emergency management and prevention, and electric and autonomous vehicles.

The President also visited Hyosung TNS headquarters on Tuesday and met with the company’s president and CEO, Hyunsik Sohn. One of the largest South Korean global corporations and active in several sectors, it has been present in Catalonia for more than 20 years, through a commercial office in Barcelona for heavy industries, chemicals and textiles.

In addition, it has a banking technology equipment branch which is the world’s third-largest manufacturer of ATMs and is a benchmark in innovation, offering technology products adapted to older age groups. In fact, during the meeting, they discussed the supply of ATMs to Catalonia to guarantee citizens’ access to financial services, as well as innovations to help the digitisation of public institutions.