On 13 October 2021, Ms. Wang Hongliu, Director of the General Affairs and Coordination Division of the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), was invited to participate in the Symposium on International Cooperation of Smart Cities in Beijing, hosted by Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Big Data Development and Management and Ningbo Municipal Economic and Information Technology Bureau, and co-organised by the China Centre for Urban Development.

Representatives from the Department of Innovation and High-Tech Development of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of the People’s Republic of China, Financial Consumer Protection Bureau of the People’s Bank of China, the Centre for International Economic and Technological Cooperation of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the Planning Research Institute of China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Big Data Development and Management, as well as experts and enterprise representatives from the University of International Business and Economics, the Central University of Finance and Economics, Tencent Research Institute, Ali Cloud, and China-ASEAN Information Harbor Co., Ltd. attended the symposium.

Mr. Shen Chi, Deputy Director of China Centre for Urban Development, said that the purpose of the symposium is to jointly discuss policy design, project planning and implementation paths for promoting international cooperation on smart cities. He proposed to strengthen the top-level design of ASEAN-China smart city cooperation, deepen the partnership of node cities, and give full play to the main role of enterprises.

Mr. Ye Chunhua, Director of Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Big Data, introduced the innovative achievements of Ningbo’s smart city construction and urban governance, stressing that Ningbo will deeply move forward the application of cutting-edge information technology, accelerate the industrial digitalisation and digital industrialisation, as well as promote the deep integration of industrial chain, innovation chain and supply chain for the sustainable development of smart city and international cooperation.

Ms. Wang Hongliu said that ASEAN Member States (AMS) and China are developing countries, uphold the development philosophy of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, taking people's aspiration for a better life as their common pursuit. Most AMS show a potential in the development of smart cities, thus bearing great opportunities for their cooperation with China. ACC actively promotes the development ASEAN-China digital economy and smart city cooperation, willing to continue to help both sides to drive high-quality development with innovation and achieve mutual benefit and win-win cooperation.

At the symposium, the government officials, experts, scholars and enterprise representatives deeply analyzed the development trend of Chinese and global smart cities, fully exchanging typical cases of international cooperation of Chinese smart cities, further discussing key areas and policy support in ASEAN and other regions. The symposium was concluded with bountiful practical suggestions.