Ahmedabad, 2 December 2014

Following is the statements issued by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation(AMc) on city Mayor’s visit to Ahmedabad’s sister city Guangzhou in China recently:

Ahmedabad had signed Sister City Agreement on 17th September 2014 during visit of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and H.E. the President of China’s visit to Ahmedabad. The city of Guangzhou invited a delegation to take part in 2014 China International Friendship Cities Conference and Guangzhou International Urban Innovation Conference.

The main objective of conference was to encourage urban innovation and promoting the sustainable development of sister cities cooperation. In three days long conference, the representatives, scholars and experts from various countries of the world discussed issues on friendly cooperation amongst cities, urban administration innovation based on the theme “My City My Dream”.

The Urban Innovation Seminar aims to showcase their successful practices and innovative development, sharing their innovation experience and jointly promoting global urban development.

More than 200 initiatives from 57 countries were presented covering important aspects of city administration including Urban Planning, Administration, Smart City, Ecological Environment, Housing and Transportation, Social Service, Partnership and Civic Engagement and Capacity Building.

The Enterprise Innovation Seminar was held during the conference. The experts with international influence, government representatives from international friendship cities, executives of Fortune 500 as well as famous domestic companies shared their experiences on the theme “Enterprise Innovation”. Mr. M. Thennarasan, IAS – Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Executive Director, Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited (AJL) gave a speech at the forum about Ahmedabad City and Investment Opportunities.

AMC delegation led by Honorable Mayor Smt. Meenaxiben Patel held a meeting with Honorable Mayor of the City of Guangzhou Mr. Chen JianHua and senior officials of Guangzhou Municipal Government in presence of Consul General of India to China, Mr Nagraj Naidu, IFS. In a meeting, various topics like promoting cultural exchange, sharing technical expertise in various fields, starting direct flight from Guangzhou to Ahmedabad etc. and other areas related to City Management were discussed to strengthen bilateral relationship.

Honourable Mayor of the City of Guangzhou showed a keen interest in sharing their technical expertise and to support the initiatives of AMC like Bio Diversity Park, Water Recycling, Riverfront Beautification, Tourism etc.

During the course of visit, building infrastructure projects were visited by the delegation. The delegation also visited the Riverfront Park on the Perl River and also one of the theme parks developed by the city of Guangzhou.

The delegation learnt many things from the experiences shared by the top officials from the cities of the world. The seminar has also provided the insight about administration, innovation, environment conservation, outstanding practices of initiatives by different cities in the world.

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According to Deputy Commissioner and Standing Committee Chairman following are the proposals AMC has made to its sister city in China:

-A proposal for Amdavad-Guangzhou park in Ahmedabad, in which all beautification and flower-plant development works will be done by China.
-Participation of Chinese cultural ream in Kankaria carnival which is scheduled to held during Christmas.
-Invitation to Chinese engineers to visit Amdavad for waste-water recycle plant project.
-Adoption of three municipal schools in Ahmedabad by China.