By Lee Jon-young

Gwangmyeong City Mayor Park Seung-won met with an international exchange delegation on social economy of Costa Rica and expressed his intention to continue mutual exchanges including fair trade.

Mayor Park held a meeting with a visiting group including Costa Rican Fair Trade official Alejandro Garcia at City Hall on Nov. 10 and said, "Gwangmyeong City is creating many best practices as a fair trade city. We hope to work together with Costa Rica to change the world such as carbon neutrality."

The Costa Rican delegation's visit to Gwangmyeong City was triggered by the city's visit to Costa Rica in September for policy training in fair trade and social economy.

Alejandro Garcia, director of Costa Rica's Coffee Research Institute Icafe, who met with Mayor Park, said, "I was very impressed that the citizens of Gwangmyeong understand the value of fair trade for protecting producers and the environment, and that they practice it with their hearts as well as their consumption."

"Costa Rica is the country with the highest happiness rate in the world, and policies to protect natural ecosystems are a priority," said Oracio Hidalgo, Commercial Manager of the Asia Pacific Latin America Trade Center in Costa Rica. "We are committed to producing coffee based on Fairtrade values and practicing social and economic responsibility by declaring carbon neutrality."

In response, Mayor Park said, "Gwangmyeong City would like to create more participation opportunities for the local young generation so that the consumption of fair trade products can be established as a culture in the daily lives of citizens." "I hope that we will continue to work together with Costa Rica in the future and continue to have mutual cultural exchanges," he said.

Meanwhile, prior to the meeting with Mayor Park, the Costa Rican delegation met with Gwangmyeong citizens at the city's youth training center 'Cafe, Purda' on the theme of 'Fair Trade Coffee Stories from Costa Rican Coffee Producers' on Nov. 7. He is also running a booth promoting Costa Rican coffee at the ongoing Seoul Café Show at COEX.