South Korea’s port city of Busan is among the several other venues hoping to win the bid to host the World Expo 2030. As the leader of the country’s biggest conglomerate, Samsung boss Lee Jae-yong is undertaking visits to several countries in order to win support for Busan’s bid.
Lee Jae-yong has most recently visited Panama, a country that shares unique historic ties with the conglomerate. Samsung would hope that these ties can be leveraged to win support for Busan’s Word Expo 2030 ambitions.
Panama was the first importer of Samsung’s color TVs
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong has visited Panama to hold talks with President Laurentino Cortizo. Panama has a unique history with the conglomerate. It was the first importer of Samsung’s color TVs in 1977.
Samsung unveiled the 14-inch color TV in South Korea for the first time in June 1976. It began exporting them out of the country the following year with Panama being the first to import them. Panama also happens to be the home of Samsung’s oldest overseas office.
According to the trip details provided by the company itself, the Samsung boss visited the country with the express purpose of winning Panama’s support for Busan’s bid to hold the World Expo 2030.
During his meeting with the country’s president, Lee Jae-yong also demonstrated Samsung’s willingness to sponsor the World Robotics Olympiad that takes place in Panama come November next year. Partnership opportunities between Samsung and Panamanian companies were also discussed during the meeting.
Last week, the Samsung boss also visited Mexico and met with the country’s president to gain support for Busan’s bid. The South Korean port city of Busan is up against venues like Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, Ukraine’s Odesa, and Italy’s Rome to become the host city for World Expo 2030.
