Asian Network of Major Cities 21

Plenary Meeting

Other Meeting

Representatives (Mayor or Governor) from member cities gather to convene a plenary meeting once each year in principle.

■Results of the Meeting

■November 2 (Mon)
--Opening Ceremony-- --Welcome Address by Mr.Chavarat Charnvirakul (the Minister of Interior, Kingdom of Thailand) ・ The AMNC21 meeting is a premier forum for major Asian cities, and the 8th plenary meeting has the primary objectives of strengthening Asian identity and enhancing the importance of Asia through strong cooperation among major cities. ・ It is very fitting to promote tourism for our cities because tourism is important for growth of the region, dynamism of our cities, and better understanding and respect of our diverse cultural heritage. At the same time, economic growth must be green growth that takes into account protection of the environment and addresses the challenge of climate change. ・ Bangkok is strongly committed to green growth. In pursuing various modernization projects, the city will seek to ensure minimal impact on the environment and local lifestyles. The ANMC21 cities can also play an important role in sustainable tourism due to our location and shared commitment to green growth. ・ Although the meeting is a short two-day program, the interesting session and activities will be sure to provide good opportunities for us to exchange useful viewpoints, knowledge, and experiences. -- Welcome Address by Mrs. Taya Teepsuwan (Deputy Governor of Bangkok) This is the first time for ANMC21 meeting in Bangkok to create such an important forum for the member cities to be discussed on the significant topic which issues on sustainable tourism and influenza (A/H1N1) for Major Asian Cities. We have also organized parallel program of ANMC21 Exhibition and Cultural Performance at Bangkok Art and Culture Center which held from 31 October to 4 November 2009. In addition to the Exhibition and Cultural Performance, we will be able to visit the value and varieties tourism promotion exhibition from ANMC21 members’cities and their particular culture shows on the 3rd November 2009. -- Welcome Address by Mr. Shintaro Ishihara (Governor of Tokyo) As was just mentioned by the Minister of Interior, abnormal changes in the global environment are becoming critical, and we will reach a point where we will not be able to reverse this trend unless all-out measures are taken immediately. Although the issue of global warming has been under discussion with experts at the G8 summit and other conferences, little advancements have been made. It’s up to the cities to possess a strong sense of crisis and act accordingly. Let us demonstrate leadership in this area.
--Implementation Reports of the Joint Projects-- Implementation reports were presented on the following joint projects. - Promotion of Development of a Small to Medium-sized Jet Passenger Plane (Tokyo) - “Welcome to Asia” Campaign (Tokyo) - ICT Initiatives for Urban Development (Taipei) - Network for Crisis Management (Tokyo, Bangkok) - Countermeasures to Combat Infectious Diseases in Asia (Tokyo, Taipei) - Youth-to-youth Program (Junior Sports Exchange) (Tokyo, Jakarta) - Urban and Global Environment Problems (Tokyo) Following the presentation on urban and global environment problems, discussions were conducted on environmental measures. Main contents of the reports were as follows. Promotion of Development of a small to medium-sized Jet Passenger Plane - In October of this year the 8th Working Level Conference on this joint project was held in Hanoi, attended by approximately 50 participants from seven Asian cities. At the conference progress on the development of domestic passenger jet airlines in Japan was introduced, heightening expectations of its successful commercialization, which would constitute the first step toward the realization of an Asian passenger plane. A report was also presented on the current state of Vietnam’s aviation industry and the vision of aircraft that are predicted to come into demand. At the end of the conference, a panel discussion was held on subjects such as the potential of the Asian aviation industry and agreement was reached on the importance of closer Asian cooperation in the sharing of information and exchange of human resources in order to develop airline-related technology across Asia. "Welcome to Asia" Campaign - Organized for the purpose of smoothly implementing the campaign, the Council for Promotion of Tourism in Asia held its eighth conference in Tokyo in July of this year. The primary outcomes achieved to date are 1) creating a platform for sharing each city’s best practices, 2) building full cooperative relations between member cities and the private sector, and 3) unified promotion by member cities. New developments include the start of cooperation in distributing tourism brochures to promote tourism exchange between the participating cities, and sharing information by holding seminars to promote initiatives to improve the hospitality of the cities. ICT Initiatives for Urban Development - On September 22 and 23 of this year the “2009 Intelligent City ICT Forum in Taipei” was held. Presentations on ICT initiatives in urban planning were given by not only the ANMC21 member cities of Taipei, Tokyo, and Jakarta, but also an official from Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and management from IT firms, among others. The presentations were followed by brisk exchange of opinions and ideas in a panel discussion. Network for Crisis Management -Under the theme “Crisis Management in Large Cities in the Event of a Large-scale Disaster,” the 7th Asian Crisis Management Conference was held in Tokyo in September this year. Approximately 70 persons from seven member cities participated in the conference, and rescue teams from Singapore and Taipei also took part in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Comprehensive Disaster Management Drill to conduct practical drills for rescue operations. With the aim to develop and bolster the leadership of rescue teams in Asia, rescue technique training course was conducted in Tokyo in November of last year, and this February Tokyo dispatched instructors to Bangkok to conduct technical training. Countermeasures to Combat Infectious Diseases in Asia - In February this year the 1st Conference on Joint Research and Survey was held in Tokyo, where a joint survey and research plan was formulated for tuberculosis, a serious problem commonly faced by the large cities of Asia. Based on this research plan, each participating city is currently implementing a fact-finding survey. It is also planned to have a continuous exchange of information on measures to deal with HIV/AIDS and new strains of influenza. In August of this year, a training program on crisis management for emerging infectious diseases was held in Taipei. Through lectures and tabletop exercises on response to new types of influenza, information was actively exchanged about the latest response situations and issues that exist. Urban and Global Environment Problems - Following the Asian Workshop on Energy and Environmental Technologies held in Tokyo in February last year, each city has been advancing initiatives using the various energy-saving technologies and renewable energy introduced at the workshop. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is working to reduce carbon emissions through initiatives including the launch of a cap-and-trade program targeting 1,400 large-scale business establishments next April. Video footage of the damage inflicted by Typhoon Ondoy, which recently struck Manila, was shown, and the serious repercussions of climate change and the importance of being prepared were brought to everyone’s attention. Governor Ishihara’s Comments: Next month’s COP 15 (United Nations Climate Change Conference), which will decide the post-Kyoto framework, is drawing near. There is not a minute to lose in tackling the crisis of the global environment. Tokyo possesses a framework where the actions of cities can change their respective central government and the world. This framework consists of not only the ANMC21, but also bodies such as the C40, an organization of the world’s large cities collaborating to address climate change. The heads of Asia’s large cities must share anew our sense of crisis over the global environment and demonstrate our leadership.
--Policy Dialogue: "Sustainable Tourism: Perspective on cooperation among ANMC21 members"-- Presentations were given by Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta, Seoul, Taipei, and Tokyo. 《Discussion Summary》 The cities agreed that it is important to respect local culture and tradition and preserve nature and the environment in the implementation of sustainable tourism policies, and to cooperate for quality improvement of the tourism industry by, among others, developing human resources for the field of tourism and planning collaborative packaged tours.
--Special Report: "Measures against Influenza A-H1N1: Major Asian Cities　Addressing Threats to Humankind"-- A keynote presentation was delivered by Dr. Supamit Chunsuttiwat of the Thai Ministry of Public Health and a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Ad Hoc Policy Advisory Working Group on Influenza A(H1N1) Vaccines. This was followed by presentations from Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta, Manila, Taipei, and Tokyo. 《Keynote Report Summary》 Pandemic Influenza (A/H1N1) has extensive impact and extensive preparation is needed to deal with this. Despite the decline of number of cases in the southern hemisphere, the second wave of the flu season is expected to return, raising alertness, anxieties and responses to the threat throughout Asian cities. Lack of resources, emergency rooms, outpatient facilities, intensive care units, and information places a burden on the health care system. Public health responses and strategies to provide adequate care emphasize slowing down the outbreak in order to lessen the burden on health care facilities, provide better care for patients with complicated illnesses, and ensure sufficient risk communication. Ultimately, the pandemic threat provides an opportunity to strengthen public health infrastructure and regional cooperation under various forums for surveillance, information sharing, antiviral drug stockpiling, production of vaccine, and inter-sector cooperation for public disaster management, training, and capacity building. 《Discussion Summary》 It was agreed that the densely-populated large cities of Asia will further promote the sharing of the latest knowledge and findings to be prepared against a feared pathogenic mutation of the virus.
--Decision on the Next Host City-- The next Plenary Meeting will be held in Tokyo in 2010.