SG Lee meets with Makati mayor ahead of 2020 GA

April 24, 2019

MAKATI – WeGO Secretary General Kyong-yul Lee paid a courtesy visit this morning to Mayor Abigail Binay of Makati City in the Philippines, whose city will host WeGO’s General Assembly in 2020.

At the meeting, Mayor Binay expressed her utmost commitment to organizing the GA, WeGO’s top decision-making body which meets for regular sessions every three years. Besides preliminary matters in preparation for the event, the mayor introduced a set of smart initiatives implemented by her city that she hopes to share with other WeGO members.

The dialogue follows SG Lee’s trip to Kuala Lumpur for the 2nd Annual Smart Cities Conference, where he delivered a keynote speech on citizen empowerment. He is now in Makati to speak at the 3rd Philippines OpenGov Leadership Forum, organized by OpenGov Asia. The annual event serves as a discussion platform for Filipino officials and experts to share their experience as leaders in public administration.

SG Lee delivered a keynote presentation on smart cities and citizen-centricity, and served as a panelist on edge computing – the generation, collection and analysis of data on the edge of the network rather than in centralized servers and systems. He emphasized the inevitability of edge computing as a result of increased data which is beneficial to cities, especially in such areas as traffic and disasters.

WeGO also facilitated gamification table activities under the theme, “It Starts with People: Connecting Government and Citizens through Amazing Digital Experiences.” This format, developed as a novel alternative to panel discussions, enabled participants to discuss the topic in a more stimulating, interactive, and inclusive way.

The events in Kuala Lumpur and Makati are the latest in a series of missions by WeGO in Southeast Asia this year, which is stepping up its cooperation with stakeholders in the region.