On the morning of October 22, Beijing and Wellington jointly held the "Smart City" seminar via a video conference. Department heads, experts and scholars from the two cities' smart urban administration, transportation, urban planning and other relevant fields were present. Discussions centered around the topic of "Smart Drivers forthe TwoCities, Digital Sharing across the World".

Andy Foster, Mayor of Wellington, was in attendance and addressed the event. He emphasized that global communicationand cooperation are vital for coordinated development. He expressed his belief that the two cities will work together to grasp the opportunities presented by digital technology development to promote innovation, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in terms of smart city construction, and bring about a better future for the urban life in both cities.

The "Smart City" seminar is one of the activities being conducted in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the friendship between Beijing and Wellington. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and contains the second largest port in the country. It is also the financial, shipping, industrial, cultural and educational center of New Zealand. In May 2006, Beijing and Wellington forged a friendship by becoming what they referred to as "sistercities".

On February 1, during the opening ceremony at one of the events celebrating the 15th anniversary of the two citys' friendship, Mayor Chen Jining made a speech via video. He said that the two cities should work more closely to generate a new comprehensive blueprint for win-win cooperation and further stimulate the potential for collaboration in digital economy, smart city, cultural creativity and other areas. He stated how both cities should advocate for continued development of the sister cities and work towards an even more interactive, pragmatic and mutually beneficial direction.

In regards to the aforementioned fields, the two cities arealso scheduling other activities in the fourth quarter, i.e. an enterprise symposium, a session for the promotion of "Two Zones" policies, an experience exchange meeting on business environment, a promotional session for Beijing tourism, and a "Reading inBeijing" cultural and reading exhibition by theCapital Library.

(Note: Content source is from Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality)