City Development in a Global Context

The 2013 China International Cities Cooperation Forum co-sponsored by the CPAFFC， the China International Friendship Cities Association （CIFCA） and the People’s Government of Jilin Province was held in the provincial capital of Changchun from September 6 to 7.

It attracted over 400 participants，

including 93 local government officials， heads of local government organizations and city associations from 20 countries， along with 227 representatives of Chinese local governments including 17 mayors and 56 heads of foreign affairs offices from 23 provinces and 70 cities. There were also 54 representatives from Chinese and foreign businesses.

Wang Rulin， Secretary of Jilin Provincial CPC Committee， and Bayanqolu， Governor of Jilin Province， met with the principal foreign participants. Li Xiaolin， President of the CPAFFC and CIFCA； Chen Weigen， Deputy Governor of Jilin； Andrey Denisov， Russian Ambassador to China； Choi Moon-soon， Governor of Gangwon-do， Republic of Korea； and Karoly Takacs， Mayor of Oroszlanyi of Hungary， spoke at the opening ceremony.

Within the forum’s general framework of “city development in the global context — changing the growth model， adjusting economic structure and promoting development”， key participants spoke on such topics as China’s urbanization requires global perspective and experience， urban economic development and urban planning in the era of globalization， and the overall functions and orientation of cities. The forum enabled attendees to gain an in-depth understanding of new changes and new characteristics of the international environment， as well as promoting scientific city development and boosting pragmatic cooperation between cities of different countries.

In his meeting with the principal foreign participants， Wang Rulin said that to advance urbanization actively yet prudently was an important strategic task in China’s endeavor to build an all-round， moderately prosperous society and realize modernization as well as an inevitable trend of the economic and social development. Since 2011， the One Hundred Cities Forum （the predecessor of China International Cities Cooperation Forum） had made achievements in summarizing experience of Chinese and foreign cities in urbanization and the modernization and internationalization of future cities.

Jilin should earnestly learn from the successful experience and good practices of those at the forum and strive to blaze a way of urbanization tallying with local conditions and with its own characteristics.

In her speech at the opening ceremony Li Xiaolin said： “Up to now， China has formed 2，022 pairs of friendship cities （provinces/states） with 131 countries. Friendship cities had become a principal channel for carrying out exchanges and cooperation in all fields. International friendship-city activities play an irreplaceable important role in China’s modernization drive and have far-reaching impact on promoting urbanization and local development in the country.”

“China which is at an important stage of urbanization and a critical moment of economic upgrading and social transformation， has a huge potential and great space for development. We are under enormous pressure in our development and confronted with ‘two unprecedented factors’， the first being a country with a population of 1.3 billion striving to achieve modernization， and the second the difficulties encountered in the modernization process to protect the environment and conserve resources to achieve green development.”

She put forward three proposals for pressing ahead with green development， putting people first and deepening international cooperation. Friendship-city activities should take urbanization as a new platform and a new bright spot for practical cooperation.

Russian Ambassador Andrey Denisov said the forum held as an international event for the first time reflected its significance. His country placed particular importance on developing regional cooperation including exchanges and cooperation between the border areas of Russia and China.

The choice of Changchun， located near Russia， was also significant. China and Russia conducted a large scale regional cooperation exemplified by 203 pairs of friendship cities. He hoped the two countries would continuously seek cooperation opportunities and jointly create a better future on the basis of deepened exchanges between them.

To promote practical cooperation， sub-sessions and presentations of international city projects were also held at the forum， exploring such topics as sustainable development in creating new-type urbanization， the role of intelligent environmental protection in urbanization， etc.

At these meetings， Chinese and foreign experts on urban studies， government officials and entrepreneurs shared their views， studied existing problems and trends in urbanization， and considered the strategic direction for sustainable development of cities in the future.