Mr. Chen Jianhua, Mayor of Guangzhou, met with the participants and experts of the Workshop for Thought Leaders: Learning from Urban Innovation at Sun Yat-sen University on the evening of November 2.

In the meeting, Mayor Chen Jianhua extended his warmest welcome to the participants and experts and expressed his gratitude to UCLG, Metropolis and Sun Yat-sen University for their tremendous support to the successful launch of the workshop.

Mayor Chen indicated that Guangzhou, a city with more than 2,000 years’ history, remains at the forefront of China’s opening up and dominates the role as the political, economic, cultural and educational center of South China. Mayor Chen invited the participants and experts to provide suggestions on Guangzhou’s urban management and sustainable development. It’s necessary to share experience on urban innovation with one another so as to work out excellent solutions. As stated, Guangzhou is ready to strengthen its cooperation with local governments and organizations for common development.

The meeting was graced by the presence of Mr. Alioune Badiane, Director of Program Division of UN-Habitat, Mr. Felip Roca, Secretary General of the Metropolis and Ms. Bernadia Tjandradewi, Secretary General of UCLG ASPAC. They all spoke highly of the workshop for providing an opportunity of exchanging views on urban innovation and enhancing understanding among cities. It is hoped that the workshop could serve as a powerful agent for sharing experience and research outcomes on urban innovation.

Meanwhile, 30 distinguished guests attended the meeting, including government officials, organization representatives and experts from 14 cities of 12 countries. The workshop from November 2 to 6 is organized by Sun Yat-sen University whose president Mr. Luo Jun also attended the meeting.

Prior to his meeting with the workshop’s participants and experts, Mayor Chen Jianhua respectively met with Secretary General Bernadia Tjandradewi and Secretary General Felip Roca. At the meetings, Mayor Chen expressed his vision of strategic cooperation between Guangzhou, UCLG and Metropolis on urban innovation for advancing common development of cities all over the world.