ACC Organized ASEAN Smart City Study Visit to Guangzhou

On 27 June 2019, ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) organized the ASEAN Smart City Study Visit to Guangzhou. Sixteen officials and experts from six ASEAN countries including Mr. Drajat Wisnu Setyawan, Director of Performance Evaluation and Capacity Building for Local Government of Ministry of Home Affairs of Indonesia, Mr. Keomany Latsamy, Director-General of ASEAN Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lao PDR, Ms. Hafizah Binti Abdullah, Deputy Director-General of ASEAN-Malaysia National Secretariat of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, and Mr. Min MinZaw, Director-General of Nay Pyi Taw City Development Committee of Myanmar, as well as Ms. Wang Hongliu, Director of General Affairs and Coordination Division of ACC, visited enterprises in Guangzhou.

The delegation first visited China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd. (CSG). The officials and experts from ASEAN countries showed great interest in the smart grid and expressed readiness to strengthen cooperation with leading Chinese power companies in capacity building, training and technology transfer. Mr. Li Xinhao, Deputy Director of the CSG International Cooperation Department, said that ASEAN countries as close neighbours of China enjoy favourable geographical position. CSG has set up power plants in Viet Nam and Lao PDR, carried out training programmes of various forms with Viet Nam, Lao PDR and Cambodia and cooperated with ASEAN countries under the framework of Greater Mekong Sub-regional Cooperation and Lancang-Mekong Cooperation.CSG is ready to further share technology, expertise and experience and deepen mutually-beneficial cooperation with ASEAN countries.

The delegation also visited Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City Planning Exhibition Hall and listened to the presentation by CSG Guangzhou Bureau on smart grid, residential network integration and automation application in the Smart Community, where the delegation experienced on-site.

In the afternoon, the delegation visited Nanfang Hospital of China Southern Medical University. President Li Wenyuan of Nanfang Hospital gave an overview of the Hospital. He said that the Hospital has established sister relations with Bangkok Hospital of Thailand and Pantai Hospital of Malaysia. Its Huiqiao Medical Centre has received thousands of patients from Southeast Asia since its inception four decades ago. The Hospital hopes to take medical cooperation as a bond to promote in-depth cooperation between China and ASEAN countries for the benefit of the people in this region. The delegation also listened to the briefing on the Hospital’s achievements in internet-plus smart hospital development. Vice President Cao Rui and representatives from various departments of the Hospital attended the meeting. The delegation also visited Huiqiao Medical Centre and Human Body Museum of China Southern Medical University.

Director-General Keomany Latsamy from Lao PRD and other delegates thanked ACC for providing the opportunity for ASEAN countries to learn about China’s progress on smart city development. The visit, with its rich content, was inspiring and deepened their understanding of China’s policies and its efforts on smart city development across the board. They hoped that ACC could organise more study visits of such kind to contribute to common development of ASEAN countries.