Last week JLGC assisted a visit to Kent County Council from the Kyushu Economic Research Center. The Kyushu researcher, Mr Kabu, visited Kent to learn more about their cross-channel partnership with Nord-Pas de Calais and West Flanders on account of Kyushu’s own active link to neighbouring Korea. The Kent-France co-branded link up around tourism and economic promotion originated from preparations for the Channel Tunnel rail link and has since become an EU-funded programme with an annual political meeting between Kent and Nord-Pas de Calais. Mr Kabu exchanged views with Kent international affairs staff and the council’s deputy leader Alex King, who was instrumental in developing the partnership, around the Fukuoka-Busan link. In 2009, on the 20th anniversary of the cross-strait partnership between the Japanese and Korean cities, Fukuoka and Busan agreed to develop the Busan-Fukuoka Economic Cooperation Council into a common economic zone.
