GUANGZHOU: With the presence of an unprecedented number of overseas mayors and senior urban officials, the 2009 UCLG World Council Meetings and Guangzhou International Sister Cities Conference opened in south China today.

UCLG - the global organization of the United Cities and Local Governments - is the world's largest organization of cities and local governments. Founded in 2004 and based in Barcelona, it represents over half the world's urban population. Its membership consists of 1,000 cities and 112 national associations of local cities in 136 countries and regions.

The two events, jointly hosted by the municipal government of Guangzhou and the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, are set to last through until November 14.

Some 60 mayors and more than 500 representatives from over 60 countries and regions worldwide, as well as delegates from 24 of Guangzhou's international sister and partner cities, will participate in the events.

The theme adopted for this year's UCLG conference is "Cities: an approach to the global financial crisis", whilst the theme of the sister cities conference is "Win-win cooperation and harmonious development".

Speaking prior to the event, Tang Hanghao, deputy secretary-general of the city government of Guangzhou, told a recent press conference: "The global financial crisis has brought about great challenges to the development strategy, industrial development, economic policies and social welfare of many cities across the world.

"These two events are expected to function as a platform for policy-makers and experts from different cities to compare notes on their unique experience in responding to the economic recession. It will allow them to discuss ways to minimize the negative impacts of the crisis, as well as possible preventive measures to stop its reoccurrence."

According to the official, the representatives will also seek to forge close co-operative ties among different local governments, as well as focus on such issues as financial management, urban traffic systems, organizational structuring and the protection of water resources.

Tang said: "The host city will also make good use of the opportunity to strengthen economic and trade co-operative relationships with the visiting members. It will also promote its cultural and tourism resources, as well as the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games."

Guangzhou became a founding member of UCLG in 2004, with Mayor Zhang Guangning elected as co-chairman of the organization in 2007, becoming the first Chinese mayor elected as a leader of the international organization.

According to Liu Baochun, deputy director of the municipal foreign affairs office of Guangzhou, the UCLG has become one of the key channels for Guangzhou's international exchange and co-operation. The city has also played an increasingly significant role within the organization.

Liu said both Guangzhou's first prize in the Mexico Water Awards in March and its winning of the metropolis award for the Xinhepu historical and cultural conservation project of Guangzhou last October have been highlights of its involvement with the UCLG.

Guangzhou was awarded the first prize at the Mexico Water Awards, co-initiated by the World Water Council of the UCLG and Mexico, during the 5th World Water Forum in Turkey in March as a result of its effective policies and measures to improve its water environment. The city's Xinhepu historical and cultural conservation project won the metropolis award during the 9th Metropolis Congress in Australia last October.

A total of 12 cities and one province in China have now become UCLG members.

Members include the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing, all of which are municipalities directly under the Central government. Other members are Guangdong's provincial capital of Guangzhou and Hainan's provincial capital of Haikou in south China; Zhejiang's provincial capital of Hangzhou in east China; Liaoning's provincial capital of Shenyang and its coastal city of Dalian, Heilongjiang's provincial capital of Harbin and Jilin's provincial capital of Changchun in northeast China; as well as Hubei's provincial capital of Wuhan and the province of Hunan in central China.

Aside from today's opening of the two conferences, Guangzhou will also host a celebration of the one-year countdown to the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games this evening. This event will be co-hosted by the Olympic Council of Asia, the General Administration of Sport of China, the provincial government of Guangdong and the municipal government of Guangzhou.

The events will also run alongside the second phase of the 17th session of the Guangzhou Fair, which opens today and runs through until Nov 15. The fair is sponsored by the city government of Guangzhou and the China Foreign Trade Center.

(China Daily 11/12/2009 page15)