CityNet Secretariat had a chance to briefly host two interns who were dispatched from University of Seoul for three weeks in January.
The new interns, Mr. Otabek Fayazov from Tashkent and Mrs. Chha Vy Prak from Phnom Penh, have been participating in the Master of Urban Administration and Planning (MUAP) of the International Urban Development Program (IUDP) at University of Seoul, International School of Urban Sciences (ISUS).
MUAP, in cooperation with Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG), has been launched in 2012 as part of SMG’s ODA businesses. It is aimed to train mid-career public officials who specialise in city planning and urban administration from SMG’s sister/friendship cities by teaching Seoul’s successful development cases and study visits. The program serves as a good platform to strengthen people-to-people ties between Seoul and its sister/friendship cities for further mutual exchanges and cooperation.
On the last day of their internship, they presented about their cities and strategic plans for sustainable development. Both Mr. Otabek Fayazov and Mrs. Chha Vy Prak explained about the cities’ background, industries, challenges, strategic plans, and city-to-city cooperation with sister cities.
Mr. Otabek Fayazov from Uzbekistan comes with a background on administration with the most recent work as Deputy Chief at Foreign Affairs and Protocol Service of Tashkent City Municipality. He holds both bachelor and master’s degree in International Economic Relations from Tashkent State University of Economics. He said that he was able to learn about CityNet’s activities in detail and would like to know more opportunities for the Tashkent city to join CityNet as a full member in the future.
Mrs. Chha Vy Prak from Cambodia studied Tourism in National University of Management. Before she came to Korea, she worked as an officer at Intersectoral Office of Sen Sok District Government Office. She mentioned that it was a good opportunity to learn CityNet’s city-to-city (C2C) cooperation and wishes to learn more about sister city relationship between SMG and Cambodian cities.
