Nanjing to Host the Fourth World City Forum Go back »

2008-06-20 | Nanjing

World City Forum by UN Habitat, as one of the top international forums on the development of cities all over the world, usually attracts ten thousand participants every year. This year, the fourth World City Forum is to be held at Nanjing between November 3rd to 7th.

At the press conference held on the 16th, Qi Ji, vice president of Residence Building and Urban Construction Department, said that World City Forum, an international forum initiated by the United Nations, always focuses on dynamic developments of cities all over the world. It has been influencing the world's economic and social condition. Application for hosting the fourth forum was first presented at the second World City Forum held in September 2004, in Barcelona, Spain, and later was approved by the UN-Habitat.

The fourth World City Forum is to be held by Nanjing municipal government in Nanjing. With a theme of 'Harmonious Urbanization', measures and practices taken for the sustainable development, especially on urbanization, are to be presented, exhibiting the latest research findings, practices and successful cases.

At present, Nanjing Conference and Exhibition Center, where the fourth forum is to be held, is still being constructed. Covering an area of 540,000 square meters, Nanjing International Exhibition Center consists of 8 separate exhibition halls and one multi-function presentation hall. The first-phase construction that is being carried out at present consists of 6 exhibition halls located in the south, one conference center and one multi-function hall. Three times larger than that of Nanjing Exhibition Center, the first-phase construction will be completed and open to the public by the end of this August. 

Statistics shows that exhibitions held in Nanjing have been boosting the city's overall economic performance. In 2007, Nanjing's economic turnover increased by 15 billion RMB. However, despite of its strong developing momentum, limited exhibition space has been straining the industry?s future development. Thus, when Nanjing International Exhibition Center is completed, this limitation will be no more. Besides, it will upgrade the exhibition industry to a much higher level, making Nanjing another important exhibition host city following Shanghai in the eastern of China.