Posco International, a trading firm under Posco Group, said Monday that it has sponsored performances of the South Korean opera “Chunhyang-jeon” in Uzbekistan, as part of the company’s effort to support Busan’s World Expo 2030 bid.

According to the company, the Korean opera was staged at Bolshoi Theater in Tashkent, Sunday, to mark 30 years of diplomatic ties between South Korea and Uzbekistan. Posco International sponsored the performance in collaboration with Busan Metropolitan City Government and Busan Cultural Foundation. 

The show was attended by some 1,200 guests and Uzbekistan government officials, Korean Ambassador to Uzbekistan Kim Hee-sang and Posco International Textile’s President of Corporation at Central Asia Region Cho Seung-hyun and other business people, according to the company. 

“With have continued our business in Uzbekistan for over the past three decades and we are looking into the next 30 years. We hope you can actively support Busan’s World Expo 2030 bid,” an official from Posco International was quoted as saying after the show in a company statement. 

Posco entered the Uzbekistan market in 1992 by establishing an office in the capital city. Its textile business in the Central Asian country has grown to become the country’s largest textile manufacturing firm, recording $37 million in operating profit as of last year, with around 4,000 employees working locally.