Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that on April 28, 2025, a delegation from the EU and 11 EU member states, including the European Commission's Director-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Ms. Charlina Vitcheva, and the EU Ambassador to Korea, H.E. Maria Castillo Fernandez, visited Busan to participate in the 10th Our Ocean Conference ('OOC').

• The EU Delegation to Korea contributes to forging strong economic and political relations between the EU and the Republic of Korea . The Delegation visited Busan in last November to discuss policy sharing and cooperation on carbon neutrality.

The Delegations of the EU and the EU Member States visited Busan to exchange on how to cooperate on ocean affairs and to participate in a practical marine environment campaign. The visit included  a luncheon meeting with the Mayor of Busan to discuss cooperation in the maritime sector, a campaign to collect discarded fishing nets, and visits to the fishing net recycling facility.

The European delegations took note with great interest of Busan's waste fishing net recycling project and participated in waste fishing net recycling with Busan City and Saha-gu, including a waste fishing net collection (sorting) campaign.

• The recycling campaign was held at Dadaepo Port in Saha-gu. Busan City and the European delegation worked on reclassifying the waste collected from fishing boats, and visited Netspa Co.

H.E. Maria Castillo Fernandez, Ambassador of the EU to Korea, presented “the EU-Korea Green Partnership, which was launched in 2023 to promote cooperation in the green sector between the EU and Korea”. She stressed that “Busan is an important partner in marine environment and sustainable resource management.  Busan's leading policies to promote marine environmental protection and resource recycling systems are excellent.” She added that cooperation opportunities with the EU could be further expanded  thanks to this visit.”

Director-General Shim Sung-tae for Agriculture & Fisheries Policy of Busan City said, “The EU and Member States delegation's visit to Busan was a very valuable and important opportunity for international cooperation, and it was a meaningful time to lay the foundation for Busan to lead practical cooperation with the EU in various fields as a global maritime city.” “In the future, Busan will continue to strengthen cooperation with the international community, including the EU, to create a sustainable marine environment and build a circular economy.”

Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Korea