Mumbai to host next City Infrastructure Forum

Mumbai, India, was announced tonight as the host of the next City Infrastructure Forum during a gala dinner to end the first successful China forum in Chongqing.

The declaration concluded the two-day forum where discussions took place on city investment, smart technology, mobility and sustainability.  Over 150 delegates, comprising city leaders from 14 countries together with 85 senior Chinese city officials, and global company representatives, gathered in the rapidly growing western Chinese city.

“The Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), is dedicated to bridging China with other countries, especially between local governments and cities,” said Zhang Ruoning, Deputy Director, CPAFFC. “It is through such institutions like United Cities and Local Government Asia Pacific (UCLG ASPAC), and this forum, that ideas can be gathered about the development of cities that then facilitates the cooperation between cities, enterprise, international organisations, and academia.”

International companies including Shell, Schneider Electric, Siemens and Oracle shared their own initiatives and ideas to tackle the forum’s theme of ‘connecting local governments with global solutions’. These ranged from providing a better connection with citizens through technology, smarter parking apps, efficient and sustainable public transport and low-carbon initiatives.

The final session of the day also saw the authors of the first landmark report on public-private cooperation in the Chinese city of Yixing discuss its findings. Released in June by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the authors, from Siemens, Schneider Electric and AECOM, shared their findings and spoke of the next Chinese cities they would be reporting on.

“This was not just another conference or talk shop, it was the start of a process and engagement of ideas with local governments and the private sector to continue the dynamic dialogue between the two,” said Peter Woods, Emeritus Mayor and Ambassador of UCLG ASPAC. “There are already plans to continue this forum in China, India and the other emerging countries of Brazil and South Africa. The future is not North America or Europe. The future will in fact be driven by Asia, Latin America, and the revamped Russia and South Africa.”

In preparation for the next forum, Zhang Ruoning called for future participants to not only provide solutions and ideas but to aim for the inclusion of details of how to achieve this.

“The demand from cities is what we should work for,” she added. “What we do not have are the details, such as a roadmap or detailed plans. This is probably a challenge for all the future participants and a new thinking pattern for organisers.”

Keen to see this unfold in the next edition of the forum was Liu Qiang, Vice Mayor of Chongqing, who accepted the invitation to attend the Mumbai forum during the gala.

The City Infrastructure Forum, China was organised in association with the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (see http://en.cpaffc.org.cn/content/details19-22837.html) and UCLG ASPAC, the largest association in Asia Pacific of city and local governments.