The 1st BRLC General Assembly

1st General Assembly on Belt and Road Local Cooperation

Mayor Tri Rismaharini, President of UCLG ASPAC at BRLC General Assembly, Hangzhou, 2 – 5 December 2018.

2 – 5 DECEMBER 2018 | HANGZHOU, China - The First Belt and Road Local Cooperation (BRLC) General Assembly and seminar on “Artificial Intelligence Facilitates Urban Governance” was jointly hosted by Hangzhou Municipal Government and Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) in Hangzhou from December 2nd to 5th, 2018.

Distinguished leaders and guests including Zhou Jiangyong, Member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Zhejiang Provincial Committee and Secretary of the CPC Hangzhou Municipal Committee, Xu Liyi, Mayor of Hangzhou, Xie Yuan, Vice President of CPAFFC and Tri Rismaharini, President of UCLG ASPAC and Mayor of Surabaya, attended the opening ceremony and relevant activities.

This event was the first General Assembly since the establishment of BRLC, attracting around 150 members, guests and delegates of other associations from over 20 countries, including Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Laos, Republic of Korea, Japan, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Finland, Croatia, Surinam and Nigeria. The General Assembly reflected on BRLC’s past achievements, ordained and established the Constitution, approved the organizational structure and leadership and formulated the future work plan. Tri Rismaharini, President of UCLG ASPAC and Mayor of Surabaya assumed the role of Honorary President ; Li Xiaolin, President of CPAFFC, and Xu Liyi, Mayor of Hangzhou assumed the duties of Presidents; Chen Weiqiang, Vice Mayor of Hangzhou was elected as Executive President; Co-Presidents were held by Mayor of Vientiane, Mayor of Paramaribo, Mayor of Oulu, Mayor of Wuhan and President of Italy-China Link Association; Dong Zude, Director of Hangzhou Municipal Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, took the position of Secretary General; Emilia Saiz, Secretary General of UCLG, Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, Secretary General of UCLG ASPAC, Peter Woods, Ambassador of UCLG ASPAC and Zhou Guping, Vice President of Development Committee, Zhejiang University took the roles of Advisors.

Discussion session during the event.

The back to back seminar on “Artificial Intelligence Facilitates Urban Governance”, invited experts from Alibaba and scholars from Zhejiang University to give keynote speeches on the two themes of “City Brain” and "AI Application". Government officials and experts from Oulu (Finland), Guri City (Republic of Korea), The Smart City Association (Italy), Guangzhou (China) and Chongqing (China) shared their successful cases to forge partnerships for mutual development.

The proposal of setting up UCLG ASPAC Committee on the Belt and Road Local Cooperation (BRLC) was initiated jointly by Hangzhou Municipal Government and CPAFFC at UCLG ASPAC ExBu meeting in Catbalogan (Philippines) in April, 2017. The Secretariat is seated permanently in Hangzhou and up to now, nearly 70 cities and associations have joined the Committee. In keeping with the vision of openness, cooperation, shared benefits and win-win outcomes, BRLC has successfully organized various activities to promote the implementation of the “Belt and Road” initiative, serving as a platform of cooperation to share experience and resources for mutual benefits and win-win outcomes.

Participants of the event..