The "Building Smart City in a Changing World" forum was held in Beijing on September 16, as part of the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), which ran from Sept 12 to 16.

Co-hosted by the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding at Peking University and the Institute for Urban Internationalization Studies at Zhejiang International Studies University, the event unveiled the 2024 League of Arab States Smart City Ranking with the support of Harbor Overseas, the Center for Science and Technology Development and Governance of Tsinghua University, and the Shenzhen Finance Institute.

At the event, Professor Fang Fang, vice-president of Peking University, and Professor Mao Zhenhua, vice-president of Zhejiang International Studies University, delivered opening remarks. Meanwhile, Siddharth Chatterjee, United Nations resident coordinator in China; Yu Hongjun, former vice-minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee and vice-president of the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament; Jia Qingguo, professor of the School of International Studies at Peking University, director of the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding at Peking University, standing committee member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, delivered keynote speeches.

During a period of four months, the ranking report evaluated a total of 62 cities of the League of Arab States. The evaluation involved the participants of 18 global policymakers and top experts. Furthermore, the report conducted rigorous verification on tens of thousands of data sources by dozens of professionals.

According to the report, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, Doha in Qatar, and Riyadh and Mecca in Saudi Arabia are among the top 10 percent cities on the ranking list in terms of the overall score. Among the second-tier cities (namely those ranking 10-30 percent of all cities in terms of the overall score) on the ranking list, cities in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, such as Al Ain, Al Rayyan, Dammam, Jeddah, Medina and Tabuk, performed well. At the same time, in North Africa, Egyptian cities such as Cairo, Suez and New Cairo, as well as Algiers in Algeria and Casablanca in Morocco, also successfully made it to the second tier.

Professor Chen Xi noted that except for the southern shore of the Persian Gulf with the potential to evolve into a world-class metropolitan cluster, the rise of the Nile Delta as well as the eastern coast of the Red Sea and the narrow strip of Morocco or Tunisia on the western coast of the Mediterranean is still taking time.

The core challenge faced by those city clusters in their development process is the lack of meso-level planning in the integration of diverse infrastructure facilities – that is, fusing macro planning with micro projects vertically and connecting different countries and departments horizontally, Prof. Chen said.

Following the launch of the report, scholars and experts held three seminars under the themes of "Smart City and Regional Integration", "International Relations and Regional Integration" and "Global Governance, International Finance and Regional Integration", respectively. The topics discussed covered the core challenges to global sustainable development.

During these discussions, all participants agreed that building smart cities will serve as the foundation for regional integration in the digital era. And studies on the ranking of smart city construction will guide the development of smart cities and regional integration around the world.

More than 100 government officials, experts, media representatives and other distinguished guests from 30 countries, regions and international organizations attended the event.