The ASEAN Smart Cities Network High-Level Forum 2020 kicked off in Ha Noi on Thursday with the aim of promoting the sharing of initiatives, experiences and co-operation between Vietnamese cities and their urban counterparts throughout ASEAN.

The forum, themed “Smart cities towards community identity and sustainable development for a cohesive and responsive ASEAN”, attracted the participation of more than 500 delegates from relevant ministries, along with domestic and international businesses.

A series of seminars are also being held during the forum, with a primary focus on smart urban planning, digital infrastructure for smart cities, smart services within cities as part of the digital transformation process, and smart transportation. Participants also shared their experiences in smart city building and development, smart urban area models and technology solutions for smart city development.

Speaking at the event, Nguyen Van Binh, secretary of the Party Central Committee and chairman of the Central Economic Commission, said urbanisation and digitalisation were taking place at a rapid pace around the world, with 70 per cent of the world’s population expected to be living and working in cities by 2050.

“The question is how can we, at the same time, take advantage of the urbanisation and the digitalisation process for socio-economic development and limit this process’s negative impacts on the environment and ease the burden on technical and social infrastructure?”, Binh said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that the forum would be an important chance for parties to exchange in depth about their experiences in the process of smart city development in their own countries.

For Viet Nam, after approximately 35 years of doi moi (Renewal) process, the country’s urbanisation process and urban development have achieved a number of positive results, helping to accelerate GDP growth and contribute to shifting economic restructuring and renovating the growth model.

Viet Nam has implemented many policies and put much effort into developing smart cities with the application of science and technology in urban management and development.

The Prime Minister said smart city development was a growing trend that required participants to have a long-term vision as well as adequate capacities, aiming for a happy life, people’s comprehensive development and sustainable urban ecology.

It was therefore necessary for smart city development to go hand in hand with strong information infrastructure and efficient e-government, Phuc said.

The PM also visited an exhibition on the sidelines of the forum displaying the latest technologies – driven smart city projects and innovative solutions from world-class suppliers. — VNS