Seoul to hold int'l online conference on how to prepare for post-COVID-19 era

South Korea's capital will hold an international online conference from June 1 to 5 to overcome the coronavirus disease crisis and prepare for a paradigm shift. 

The five-day conference, titled “CAC (Cities Against COVID-19) Global Summit 2020”, will be spearheaded by the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG).

Around 120 individuals are expected to participate, including mayors from around the world, international scholars and experts from various fields such as healthcare, education, information technology and environment. 

The summit will be composed of 15 sessions where experts and city government officials will "discuss cooperative tasks regarding ten areas of the post-coronavirus era, which include prevention measures, the climate and environment, culture, public transportation and smart city", the SMG said.

In early April, the SMG launched the English online platform CAC (http://english.seoul.go.kr/covid) to share Seoul’s policies and know-how on quarantine measures (“S-quarantine”) to the public. In almost two months, the website earned more than 6 million views.        

"The CAC Global Summit 2020 will be a venue for global solidarity and cooperation in time when preparations for a new order of the post-coronavirus era are needed. The SMG will introduce its 'S-quarantine' and share a vision for a new standard city in all social areas with the world," said Mayor Park Won-soon. 

"We hope this summit will become a starting point where the whole world will put their heads together to establish a new standard for cities in this era of major transition triggered by COVID-19,” he added.

Below are the topics to discussed during the five-day summit:

Pre-Summit Day (June 1, 2020)

• International influencers in Korea, including Ilya Beyakov (Russia), Aancod Zaccarelli (UK) and Sujan Shakya (Nepal), will introduce everyday prevention measures for COVID-19 and connect the video conference to friends of their home countries.

Day 2 (June 2, 2020) 

• Mayoral Meeting will be held. The conference will begin with a keynote address by Mayor Park Won-soon, followed by the adoption of Seoul Statement and a presentation of cases of COVID-19 countermeasures in major cities by continent.

Day 3 (June 3, 2020)

• Discussions under the theme “Coronavirus Triggered by Climate Change and the Great Social Transformation Afterwards” will be made by Mayor Park, Professor Choe Jae-cheon, and Samuel Bowles, the author of "The Moral Economy: Why Good Incentives Are No Substitute for Good Citizens." 
• The “Municipal Government Health Officials’ Meeting” will take place to see how major cities respond to COVID-19.
• Jared Mason Diamond, the author of "Guns, Germs, and Steel" who won the Pulitzer Prize and Seoul mayor will discuss “The World’s Paradigm Shift After COVID-19.”

Day 4 (June 4, 2020)

• Discussions and practical case studies will take place in various fields, including culture, welfare, public transportation and smart city. Experts from UK, US, Australia, Canada, China, Singapore and Italy will join the discussions.

Day 5 (June 5, 2020)

• Mayor Park Won-soon and main participants of the summit will make a general review of the global summit results and discuss future projects. It will also address cases of measures against COVID-19 through cities’ use of ICT and plans for operation of safe professional sports games.

Through the CAC Global Summit 2020, the SMG seeks to become the world’s “standard city” in all social fields. The city also aims to establish itself as “Smart City Seoul,” “Safe City Seoul” and “Green City Seoul.”  

The summit will be broadcasted in real time, with English and Korean interpretations via the official SMG YouTube channel (Korean: https://www.youtube.com/seoullive, English: https://www.youtube.com/seoulcityofficial). It will also be aired on Arirang TV, a global broadcasting network with more than 138 million viewers in 105 countries worldwide.

The pandemic has since claimed almost 364,000 lives globally and the number of cases is nearing six million.