THE UCLG ASPAC Executive Bureau and meeting and Asia Pacific Forum were successfully held in Chengdu, China, on 16-17 April 2012, and attended by 97 participants who represent 38 members.
The Asia Pacific Forum on “Strengthening of Programming and Financing of Strategic Urban Infrastructure Investments” was held on the first day, with the support of CDIA as the co-organizer of the event. The first session of the forum emphasized on overcoming capacity deficits in cities for urban infrastructure decision making and financing, and improving city’s financing on urban infrastructure, with speakers such as Joris van Etten (CDIA), Soetanto Soehodho (Jakarta Capital City Government), Liu Hanyong (Shanghai Municipal Finance Bureau), Adolfo Guerrero (CDIA), Liangqi Zhou (Chengdu Municipal Finance Bureau), and Lian Yuming (International Institute for Urban Development Beijing).
Adolfo Guerrero in his presentation explained that cities are the main economic drivers. But, currently there is $100 billion/year funding needed to build urban infrastructure, while cities are only able to cover $40 billion, leaving $60 billion gap that needs to be covered. Therefore, public private partnership is important.
In the second session, the participants were divided into smaller groups to discuss questions prepared by CDIA, such as how to ensure better projects in terms of quality and ‘;investability’ to improve the cities, and how to prioritize urban infrastructure investments under limited financial resources. Group discussions allowed participants to exchange experiences, share ideas, and present their results to other participants.
The Executive Bureau meeting was held on the second day and endorsed new members which are Dangjing City, Pakistan Local Councils Association of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, City of Shenzen, Fuzhou, Kunming, Xi’an, Petaling Jaya, Korean City Federation, City District Government Lahore and City District Government Gujranwala.
Jakarta Capital City Government as the host of the next UCLG ASPAC 2012 congress delivered their presentation on the preparation of the congress. The UCLG ASPAC 2012 congress will be held on 2-5 October 2012, with the main theme Resilience: Rethink, Rebuild, and Revitalize.
The meeting was also attended by UCLG ASPAC partners such as CDIA, MIPIM Asia, GIZ, and PFD publication. Joris van Etten representing CDIA, and Peter Woods representing UCLG ASPAC signed a supplemental agreement for deepening collaboration between these parties.