The Korean ambassador in Spain, Hee Kwon Park, traveled yesterday to Gran Canaria seeking support to boost the new hydrogen fuel cell vehicles project by Hyundai, for which hydrogen fuel facilities are needed. He said that after being received in a formal visit by the President of Gran Canaria, José Miguel Bravo de Laguna. Park, which highlighted the "very close" ties that the Grancanarian and Korean people have historically maintained, stated that the automotive technology project is one of the main reasons of his visit to the island.
In this regard, he said that Gran Canaria "meets all the conditions to be pioneer" in the installation of these new "cleaner" vehicles, because the island provides the "most favorable to foreign investors regulatory fiscal conditions”.
Because of this, he expressed his hope that this project "succeeds in Gran Canaria", because, as he said, that would also mean "great benefits" to the archipelago's economy because, as he understood, Spain "is very advanced" in renewable energies. "If we combine the latest Hyundai technology and the advanced technology of Spain, it will produce a synergistic effect for the future. Gran Canaria will soon be reference for all European countries seeking, increasingly, a cleaner and more sustainable vehicle fleet, "he added.
However, the ambassador added that the project is still in the initial stage and to become a reality, it would need the support of the Island Council and the Central Government.
He also said that another reason for his visit is to negotiate several actions of cooperation between the Island Council and the GOK, because there is a "strong presence" of Koreans in the island dedicated mainly to the fishing industry, however, in the future, diversification will be sought in the context of cooperation.
In this regard, a cooperation agreement with the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) was established in 2014, in relation to maritime activities for repairs and maintenance of ships or in the field of aquaculture, where "Spanish and Korean are very complementary" he added. For this purpose, he will also work to enable academic exchanges of students. The ambassador pointed out that in May will be held the II Marine Forum between Korea and Spain.
