LOS ANGELES-The Port of Los Angeles and South Korea's Busan Port Authority met in South Korea this week to sign a Sister Port Agreement and create opportunities and professional exchanges between the ports. The two ports are both undergoing modernization programs to improve service and reduce environmental impacts and stand to benefit from the agreement.

“As we move ahead with our $4 billion modernization program, and as you develop your extraordinary new Port of Busan facilities, we have many beneficial opportunities to share ideas, information and expertise to meet these mutual goals,” says Thomas Fields, president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners. “To that end, it is our great honor to enter into this Sister Port Agreement with the Busan Port Authority.”

The Port of Long Beach currently has similar sister port agreements with Port of Qingdao in Chinaand the Port of Hualien and the Port of Taichung in Taiwan, and has memorandum agreements with Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the Panama Canal Authority, Yantian International Container Terminals in Shenzhen, China, and China Merchants Holdings International.