Annecy unveiled AREA-Eiffage Group as its latest partner while Pyeongchang announced that the Hanhwa Group has become a new corporate partner of its bid.

Edgar Grospiron, the chief executive of Annecy 2018, Christian Monteil, the chairman of the Annecy 2018 Supervisory Board and President of the Haute-Savoie General Council, Jean-Luc Rigaut, Mayor of Annecy and co-chairman of Annecy 2018, French Olympic Committee chairman Denis Masseglia and Jean-François Roverato, chairman and managing director of Eiffage Group and chairman of AREA, were present at the signing of the deal.

AREA, the Rhône-Alpes motorway company and subsidiary of Eiffage, joins seven other official national and international partners in backing Annecy's bid.

"Signing AREA-Eiffage Group, a regional motorway operator and subsidiary of a major European civil engineering group, as official partner demonstrates the extent of economic support and overall strength behind this bid to host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games,” said Monteil.

"We are delighted to count as one of our partners an economic actor whose business it is to provide transport to the Annecy 2018
network of venues."

"Naturally Eiffage will dedicate its APRR and AREA motorway networks to supporting the Annecy bid, and is preparing to commit all its information resources to reaching the very large numbers of drivers who will be making their way to the Alps for the coming winter holidays," said Roverato,



With support from a subsidiary of Eiffage group, Europe’s sixth largest construction and concessions group, the Annecy 2018 bid is guaranteed access to specialist expertise in transport and infrastructure.

"This is a key partnership for the Annecy bid, because the AREA-Eiffage Group motorway network is one of our bid’s core strategic transport elements, linking the French motorway network with Switzerland and Italy," said Grospiron.

"Experts from Eiffage Group are also going to provide their expertise to help prepare the Bid Book."

In Korea, officials of Hanhwa Securities, Hanhwa Engineering and Construction and Korean Life Insurance visited the Bid Committee to donate 400 million won (£221,000/$350,000) and pledge their full support for the PyeongChang bid.

Il-Hyung Chang, the executive vice-president of The Hanhwa Group, said: "PyeongChang’s bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games will not only boost sport around the region but will have a positive impact on the Korean economy and other countries throughout Asia. 



"We will provide our full backing to the bid which has great support among the business community in Korea," he said.
 
"We would like to thank the Hanhwa Group for their generous support to the bid and look forward to working with them in the coming months," said Yang Ho Cho, the chairman and chief executive of the PyeongChang 2018 Bid Committee.

"Following this new partnership with Hanhwa Group, we will look to make further announcements on new sponsors in due course. This is another sign of the strong support we have for the bid and our campaign."

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