The World e-Governments Organization of Cities and Local Governments (WeGO) partnered with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in organizing the Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on e-Government, Smart Cities, and Digital Societies for Sustainable Development from August 19-20, 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand. The forum was hosted by the Ministry of ICT of the Kingdom of Thailand and brought together approximately 300 policy makers, practitioners, industry leaders, and all other relevant stakeholders in e-Government and ICT from around the world.
On the 2nd day of the forum, WeGO organized a session on Smart Sustainable Cities, where a group of high-level city representatives as well as prominent ICT and urban development experts shared their expertise as speakers of the session, including Hon. Pablo Ortega (Mayor, San Fernando La Union, Philippines), Mr. Udaya Bahadur Rana Magar (Mayor of Pokhara, Nepal), Mr. Ki Bo Shim (Deputy Mayor of Seongnam, Korea), Mr. Hoai Duc Nguyen (Head of IT of Da Nang, Vietnam), and Mr. Namgyu Kim (Chief Director of the Korea Small & Medium IT Business Export Cooperative (KOSMIC)). The session was chaired by Mr. Frederick Lim, WeGO Advisor, who pointed out that, “Cities do not need a large sum of money to come up with good smart city solutions. City officials just need to come up with resourceful and unique ideas and make sure to implement them in their respective cities.”
As the only session that focused on e-Government and IT application at the local government level, the WeGO Session on Smart Sustainable Cities was especially significant because of the rapid rate of urbanization worldwide, which is shifting the focus from national government to cities to look for more sustainable ways of growth in order to support the anticipated population growth in urban areas. The session was well received by the guests at the forum and enabled a dynamic international discussion, proving that emerging smart cities are setting the standard for good local governance around the world.
Aside from speaking at the session, WeGO members Seoul and Seongnam were also the forum’s Platinum and Gold Sponsors, respectively. They successfully promoted their smart city solutions to the forum guests at the exhibition.
Presentations
August 20 (Thursday)
- Smart Sustainable Cities
– Smart City Initiatives of San Fernando- Hon. Pablo C. Ortega
– Sustainable Local Economic Development through ICT- Mr. Udaya Bahadur Rana Magar
– Change Urban Regeneration Policy: Seongnam Town Management System- Mr. Ki Bo Shim
– Da Nang: From e-Government to Smart City- Mr. Hoai Duc Nguyen
– Seoul ICT Strategy: Together Seoul- Mr. Namgyu Kim
Click below to view photos from the event!
Photo from the Event