President Yoon Suk Yeol has asked Koreans in France to support South Korea’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo in the southern port city Busan.

The president made the call on Monday at a dinner with a group of Koreans residing in France, saying that the final vote to select the host will be held in Paris in November.

Yoon attended the gathering shortly after arriving in the country to address the general assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions, the body in charge of overseeing the World Expo, with a speech in English on Tuesday promoting Busan’s candidacy.

The president said that the Busan World Expo will serve as an opportunity for citizens of the world and future generations as a platform for solutions to the various crises facing humanity, adding that he is expecting that Koreans in France will support Busan’s bid.

Noting that winning the right to host the Expo is considered to be much more difficult than the Olympics or the World Cup, Yoon said that success for South Korea will open a new horizon for its global diplomacy.