Songdo of Incheon City Wins Bid to Bring in Headquarters of Green Climate Fund

Korea has taken a step closer to becoming the global hub for green growth.
Incheon Metropolitan City said Saturday that Songdo, a district within the city, won its bid to house the headquarters of the Green Climate Fund, the world's single biggest source of financing to fight climate change.
A vote to choose the host city was held earlier in the day.
Korean officials expect this to be an opportunity for Songdo to makes its mark on the international stage.

[Interview : Song Young-gil, Mayor Incheon Metropolitan City] "By winning this bid, Songdo has really grown into an international city. Songdo will attract more foreign investment to the city".

President Lee Myung-bak also came to celebrate Songdo's success, saying that it's a historic moment in Korean history.

[Interview : President Lee Myung-bak] "More organizations will be established under the fund. It's a meaningful day for Korea in that it attracted the secretariat of such organization".

Songdo had a tight race with Bonn, Germany that gained support from European nations.
A total of six contenders, including Geneva and Mexico City, were in the race.
The estimated economic benefit of hosting the secretariat of the Green Climate Fund stands at around 340-million U.S. dollars a year.
Songdo will host more than one hundred international meetings annually and eventually be home to 8-thousand staff members from around the world.
Songdo now also has a much higher chance of attracting the Korean office of the World Bank that will open next year.

[Reporter : Hwang Ji-hye, emilyfwang@arirang.co.kr / õ] "Songdo will be approved as the host city for the secretariat of the Green Climate Fund at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference.
The conference will take place in Doha, Qatar in late November.
Hwang Ji-hye, Arirang News, Incheon".

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Reporter : emilyfwang@arirang.co.kr