2017-09-30

At 3 pm of September 29^th, 2017, Mr. HU Zhenming, Deputy Secretary General of ECMDC, Ms. YAO Shanshan, Project Manager of ECMDC and Mr. Hermann Walschebauer, Senior Advisor to ECMDC and Managing Director of the Board of European Consortium of Technology Transfer (ECTT) met with Mr. Nikolaos Knotinakis, Senior Projects Coordinator of EUROCITIES. Both parties held the in-depth discussion as for the joint efforts of promoting Sino-European cooperation on municipal development. Both parties reached the consensus of cooperation.

Mr. HU Zhenming (Left Two) and Mr. Nikolaos Knotinakis (Left One), Ms. YAO Shanshan (Right Two), Mr. Hermann Walschebauer (Right One)

Founded in 1986, EUROCITIES is the network of major European cities. Its members are the elected local and municipal governments of major European cities. Today, EUROCITIES bring together the local governments of over 135 of Europe’s largest cities and over 45 partner cities, that between them govern 130 million citizens across 39 countries. Through six thematic forums, a wide range of working groups, projects, activities and events, EUROCITIES offers members a platform for sharing knowledge and exchanging ideas.

Mr. Nikolaos Knotinakis extended his warm welcome to the visiting of ECMDC Delegation. He made the introduction to the mission of EUROCITIES. EUROCITIES aims to reinforce the important role that local governments should play in a multilevel governance structure. EUROCITES expects to shape the opinions of EU stakeholders and ultimately shift the focus of EU legistration in a way which allows city governments to tackle strategic challenges at local level.

Mr. HU Zhenming expressed his gratitude to the introduction by Mr. Knotinakis, and made the detailed introduction to ECMDC as well. The mission of ECMDC is to promote Sino-European cooperation on municipal development. ECMDC has reached the consensus of cooperation with many European cities. In the meanwhile, ECMDC has established the strategic partnership with the International Cooperation Center of National Development and Reform Commission of P. R. China and many municipal governments of China. In the field investigation, ECMDC comes to know the actual demands concerning international cooperation from Chinese cities. The development of urbanization in China is in need of successful European experiences as references; in the meanwhile, Chinese cities are looking forward to the international high-quality resources in order to improve their competitiveness. Therefore, ECMDC is working with the concerned city to host EU-China Municipal Development Forum, and will invite European mayors to attend the Forum. European attendees will explore the possibilities of undertaking the cooperation with mutual benefits with Chinese mayors in the aspects of science-technology innovation, cultural exchange and educational cooperation. ECMDC sincerely invites EUROCITIES to participate in the Forum.

Mr. Knotinakis remarked, one of the working methods of EUROCITIES is to provide the platform for dialogues and exchanges among members and partners. Therefore, EUROCITIES is willing to know the details of EU-China Municipal Development Forum in order to define the possible means of participation. Mr. HU Zhenming expressed his thanks for this. He also pointed out that there is a great vision concerning the municipal development cooperation between Chinese and European cities. While ECMDC invites EUROCITIES to participate in the Forum, ECMDC stands ready to facilitate the introduction of EUROCITIES projects into China in order to provide the new channel for Sino-European cooperation on municipal development.

At the meeting, Ms. YAO Shanshan and Mr. Hermann Walschebauer provided their opinions concerning EU-China Municipal Development Forum and cooperation projects as references. ECMDC and EUROCITIES reached the consensus, and are willing to make their own contribution to Sino-European cooperation on municipal development by virtue of their own strengths.