Beijing Declaration On Modernising Urban Governance Unveiled At 2024 Forum

By Nursyabiha Sukri

BEIJING, Dec 20 (Bernama) -- A declaration aimed at enhancing urban governance, titled the “Beijing Declaration on Modernising Urban Governance (2024)”, was released at the 2024 Beijing Forum on Swift Response to Public Complaints on Thursday.

Beijing municipal leaders, along with counterparts from Madrid, Spain, San Jose, and Costa Rica, unveiled the declaration at the closing ceremony of the forum, which attracted over 500 participants including international delegates, at the China National Convention Centre.

The declaration incorporates the latest international consensus of the Pact for the Future, which was adopted at the United Nations Summit of the Future, as well as other recent international agreements, building on the Beijing Declaration of 2022.

The Beijing Declaration on Modernising Urban Governance (2024) outlines several proposals aimed at improving cities including People-Centred Development, Making Cities Better; Rule of Law, Making Cities More Just; Diversity and Inclusiveness, Making Cities More Friendly.

Others proposals include: Demand-Driven Governance, Making Cities More Responsive; Digital-Intelligence Empowerment, Making Cities Smarter; Resilience Building, Making Cities Safer; Multi-Party Collaboration, Making Cities More Harmonious; Ecological Conservation, Making Cities More Beautiful; and Cultural Exchanges and Mutual Learning, as well as Making Cities More Open.

At the forum’s closing session titled “My Story about Swift Response to Public Complaints”, participants from diverse backgrounds including academia, media, legislatures, and grassroots communities, shared personal insights into governance challenges and solutions.

David Moser, an associate professor at the International Culture Institute, Capital Normal University, said the Beijing 12345 hotline provides the latest, most comprehensive, and authoritative information to foreigners.

"The publicity and promotion of the hotline should be strengthened in public areas such as the international arrival halls of airports," he said.

Wing Yan Chan, a member of the All-China Youth Federation, said the hotline model could also be applied to Hong Kong and other cities, enabling them to collaborate in building a larger database and fully utilising big data.

Anton Bogs, a research fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin and visiting scholar at the School of Government, Peking University, in making a comparison, said that Germany also has a citizen hotline but it does not provide the comprehensive assistance offered by the Beijing hotline.

Meanwhile, Huang Qingxian, a professor at the Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University, said the Beijing hotline has established an excellent standard and model for urban governance systems and solutions. 

-- BERNAMA