G-Tower in Songdo is expected to become a hub for U.N. offices in Korea. This year, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and North-East Asia Office moved to G-Tower in the Incheon Free Economic Zone.

Three more U.N. offices, including the Global Climate Fund, also plan to move to the same building.

UNESCAP-ENEA occupies the sixth and seventh floors of the building, and there is a library that exclusively houses U.N. materials as well as state-of-the-art conference facilities.

“This will enable Songdo to become the hub of multilateralism, and this is the first attempt at consolidating the U.N. offices in one building. I believe the move will strengthen our ability to act as one U.N.,” said Kilaparti Ramakrishna, the director of UNESCAP-ENEA.

Other U.N. offices such as the U.N. Asian and Pacific Training Center for Information and Communication Technology for Development, the U.N. Commission on International Trade Law and the U.N. International Strategy for Disaster Reduction will move their branch offices to Songdo as well.

By the end of this year, the Green Climate Fund and East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership Secretariat offices will move to the area, according to sources.

G-Tower’s original name was I-Tower, but the IFEZ changed the name under a new branding strategy. The new “G” stands for green, growth and global.

Behind such achievements, Incheon has put a lot of effort into making the city a cluster of international bodies, beginning with successfully hosting the U.N.-APTCICT the first U.N. regional office in Korea, in 2006.

By Choi In-jeong (injeongchoi@heraldcorp.com)