In an unprecedented demonstration of the effective collaboration between the Colombo Plan Staff College and other organizations in the region, the Busan Foundation for International Cooperation (BFIC) and CPSC sealed their partnership through their second collaborative program. CPSC and BFIC jointly organized the global training program that tackled the emerging needs of sustainable city development, particularly on the rise of SMART transportation. The program was held on December 7-10, 2021 through Zoom.

A total of 20 participants, mostly instructors and government officials under their respective urban planning ministries, attended the program. The participants came from countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, and Sri Lanka. Some of the attendees came from Colombo Plan member countries as nominated by the Colombo Plan Secretariat on the request of CPSC .

The program aims to build the capacity required for operating the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) in Colombo Plan member countries with the best practices of Korea's smart city. The program is also designed to enable the participants to discuss and design a cooperative project or action among cities in each participating member country and Busan Metropolitan City.

The lecturers of the program included the following:

Dr. Se-hun Park, Lead Researcher at the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (Presentation: Korea’s Process of Urbanization and the Changes of Urban Development Policies) Dr. Jong-sung Hwang, Lead Researcher at the National Information Society Agency (A member of the Korean Smart City Special Committee) (Presentation: The direction and Strategy of Smart City Policies in Korea & A Case Study on Busan)

Dr. Yeon-Tak Jeong, Public Official, Public Transportation Policy Division, City Government of Busan Metropolitan City (Presentation: The Direction & Strategy of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Policies in Korea)

Dr. Hoe-Kyuong Kim, Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering at Dong-A University, Republic of Korea (Presentation: A Case Study on Intelligent Transportation Systems)

The Director of the Training Department of BFIC, Dr. Kyung-sim Yeong managed and facilitated the program by acting as moderator between the participants and the lecturers.

The program was jointly supervised by Prof. G.L.D. Wickramasinghe, Director General of CPSC and Dr. Chung Jongpil, Secretary General of BFIC. During the opening ceremony, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) were virtually signed between the two organizations, strengthening the relationship between the two entities and paving the way for more opportunities for cooperation.

Dr. Chung Jongpil, Secretary General of BFIC, delivering his opening address

Left: Mr. Wangda Dorji of Bhutan asks the lecturers about the presentation. Right: Different options on managing smart transportation in the city of Busan as presented by BFIC.

Left: Prof. Wickramasinghe delivering his closing remarks. Right: The BFIC officials wishing all participants the best of luck during the closing ceremony.

BFIC is a public institution for the globalization of Busan, has been conducting over 40 projects annually since its establishment in 2005. Aligned with the diplomatic strategy of Busan, BFIC serves city-to-city cooperation, operates a global citizenship program, explores cooperative relations between EURASIAN region and Korea and implements ODA (Official Development Assistance) projects in cooperation with local institutes, experts, domestic and international citizens.