WeGO Hosts First Diplomatic Kick-Off Event to Strengthen Global Smart City Cooperation
Seoul, March 07, 2025 — The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) successfully launched its first-ever Diplomatic Kick-Off Event, gathering over 30 ambassadors and diplomats to present WeGO’s 2025 agenda and foster international partnerships for smart city development. This new format has been designed to enhance diplomatic engagement and global collaboration.
Ambassadors from Kazakhstan, Thailand, Egypt, Ecuador, Peru, Malaysia, UAE and Costa Rica delivered congratulatory remarks, emphasizing WeGO’s role in regional cooperation and smart urban development. They also highlighted key projects that the WeGO Secretariat has been advancing in their respective countries. Additionally, high-level representatives from Azerbaijan, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Greece, Honduras, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, and Uzbekistan joined the discussion, underscoring the importance of cross-border collaboration to drive innovative and human-centric smart city solutions.
The Secretary General of WeGO, Jeong-kee Kim opened the event with a welcoming remarks, “As we move forward, we are excited about the initiatives planned for 2025, including a focus on human-centric smart cities and regional collaboration. As one of our core programs, the Seoul Smart City Prize is designed to champion human-centered smart city initiatives. Another main program is the WeGO WeGO Sustainable Smart City Champions program open to students and young professionals under the age of 35. We believe that the youth of today constitute the leaders of tomorrow. Through this program, our goal is to enhance young professionals’ expertise on smart cities by offering both online lectures and in-person workshops, with the goal of fostering an active community of future leaders. Finally, WeGO Secretariat invites all interested cities to bid for hosting the WeGO Executive Committee Meeting 2027with the bidding period will be open until June 2026.“
As the President City of WeGO, the Mayor of Seoul pledged in his congratulatory remarks to continue supporting the organization in its important mission to promote sharing of the experiences and know-hows in the smart city field, and cooperation among cities around the world to bridge the digital divide and improve the quality of life of citizens.
Congratulatory remarks were delivered by esteemed ambassadors, reaffirming their commitment to advancing smart city development through regional cooperation and WeGO’s initiatives. H.E. Arystanov Nurgali, Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan, emphasized the strategic importance of Almaty as WeGO’s newly established Regional Office for Central Asia, serving as a gateway to unlocking the region’s economic potential. H.E. Abdulla Saif Al Nuaimi, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, highlighted the significance of regional collaboration and underscored Abu Dhabi’s role as WeGO’s Regional Office for the MENA region, fostering smart city innovation across the Middle East and North Africa. H.E. Patricio Troya, Ambassador of the Republic of Ecuador, recognized WeGO as a leading global organization in smart city development and stressed the importance of regional cooperation in Latin America. He reaffirmed that Cuenca, as WeGO’s Regional Office, would receive full support from the Ecuadorian government and embassy to drive smart city initiatives. H.E. Dato’ Mohd Zamruni Khalid, Ambassador of Malaysia, expressed his commitment to strengthening cooperation between WeGO and Malaysia, furthering smart city advancements across Asia. Notably, Seberang Perai serves as a WeGO Executive Committee member, contributing to the organization’s strategic direction. Furthermore, H.E. Paul Fernando Duclos Parodi, Ambassador of the Republic of Peru, H.E. Jorge Valerio, Ambassador of the Republic of Costa Rica, H.E. Khaled Abdel Rahman, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and H.E. Tanee Sangrat, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand, reaffirmed their strong support for WeGO’s initiatives. They pledged their commitment to facilitating collaboration, providing necessary assistance, and advancing efforts to create smarter and more sustainable cities worldwide.
WeGO exhibited the key initiatives and vision for 2025 accentuating the significance of human-centered smart cities by incorporating this year’s theme, “Smart Life in Smart City”, which describes WeGO’s aim to exemplify the strategy around digital technologies, and its evolution in the advent of emerging virtual worlds such as artificial intelligence (AI). Accompanying the activities towards smart city development following last year’s success the Third Seoul Smart City Prize was introduced. The Seoul Prize is an initiative established by the President City of WeGO, the Seoul Metropolitan Government to promote innovative and inclusive smart city models supporting vulnerable groups in the digitalized era. The Seoul Prize aims to recognize and showcase the multitude of smart city projects and efforts to the world. The winners of the Seoul Smart City Prize will be honored at the Prize Ceremony, receiving a trophy and provided with an opportunity to showcase their innovative projects in a dedicated booth. They will also have a chance to present their awarded projects at forums and participate in Seoul Smart Life Week tour programs. Moreover, winners will benefit from a comprehensive 4-week training program organized by the Seoul Human Resource Development Center. This program includes both online and offline components, featuring live lectures and smart city tours. Notably, the winners can access financial support to implement smart city projects, including assistance for pre-feasibility studies. Another flagship event for this year is the WeGO Executive Committee Meeting that will take place in Abu-Dhabi (UAE). EXCOM Members and partners will join in UAE to shape key agendas and provide assistance in reviewing the organization’s activities and accomplishments in 2024 and to decide on key agenda items guiding the organization’s direction for the future.
About WeGO
The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), is a membership-based international association of local governments, smart tech solution providers, and institutions committed to the transformation of cities into smart sustainable cities through facilitating public-private partnerships (PPP). WeGO was founded by 50 member cities in 2010 as the World e-Governments Organization, hence our acronym. In response to the evolving concept of smart cities, WeGO expanded its vision and mandate at the 7th General Assembly (2017) and its name to the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization. WeGO’s Secretariat is based in Seoul, Korea, and has regional offices in East Asia (Chengdu, China), the Mediterranean (Beyoglu, Turkey), Africa (Abuja, Nigeria), Middle East & North Africa (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates), Latin America (Cuenca, Ecuador), and Central Asia (Almaty, Kazakhstan). As the leading platform on smart city development, WeGO’s mission is to share knowledge and good practices in e-Governance; strengthen administrative efficiency and transparency; advance digital capacity; facilitate civic involvement; bridge the digital divide and inequality; and promote cooperation solidarity among cities and local governments around the world.
WeGO serves for its members as their international platform to improve the quality of life, innovate in the delivery of public services, and strengthen regional competitiveness.
Press Contact:
Name: Kakim Danabayev
E-mail: kakim@we-gov.org
Phone: +82-70-4202-9169