A total of 38 people - including Chinese and U.S. government officials, business leaders, representatives of NGOs and leading scholars – attended the "City Leaders Round-Table Conference", a part of the "Urban China Initiative" series of activities, which was held at Columbia University in New York on Dec 2.

The conference covered a broad range of topics, such as infrastructure construction and finance, energy and sustainable development, and public health.

Zeng Xiaodong, internationalization director of the administrative committee of Zhongguancun Science Park, gave a presentation on the development of the science park and its contributions in the fields of information technology, green energy and sustainable development.

The next day, several of the Chinese participants visited Keith Halowei, deputy mayor of New York City, who is in charge of urban infrastructure construction. Halowei discussed the methods used by the city in the construction of its infrastructure, municipal project implementation and other major works.

He also met with a representative from Zhongguancun, and they discussed the situation of the science park and its internationalization achievements in the U.S. Halowei expressed great interest in cooperation between New York and Zhongguancun, and suggested both sides should stay in contact, and aim to cooperate in innovative entrepreneurship.

The "Urban China Initiative" was co-founded by McKinsey & Company, Columbia University and Tsinghua University, with the aim of promoting positive urbanization and supporting innovative city construction.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Niva Whyman