The Guangzhou Municipal Government Delegation, led by Deputy Secretary General Pan An, joined over 2,500 participants at ICLEI World Congress 2015 in Seoul from April 10 to 11, at the warm invitation extended by the event organizers ICLEI and Seoul Metropolitan Government. During one of the sub-plenaries of the Congress featuring “Leaders for Innovation”, Pan shared with audiences the experiences of tackling traffic congestion by using innovative methods in metropolises such as Guangzhou. “Traffic and transportation are essential public services for a smooth economic development”, Pan said, “Guangzhou has made active efforts in the construction of bus rapid transit system (BRT) and metro lines, as well as water bus systems in dealing with traffic congestion”.

During the Congress, the delegation met with ICLEI Secretary General Mr. Gino Van Begin. Van Begin expressed his appreciation towards the delegation on taking an active part in the Congress and making contributions. Both parties exchanged views on means of expanding global networks and playing active roles in international affairs for both city authorities and non-governmental organizations. Also held during the congress was a formal ceremony to facilitate the signing and exchanging of the Memorandum of Understanding between ICLEI and Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation (GIUI), marking the beginning of a promising collaborative relationships between ICLEI, the world’s leading network of over 1,000 cities, towns and metropolises, and GIUI, a Guangzhou-based heavy-weight research body that aims at furthering the concepts, tools and methodologies of urban innovation.