Vienna, Austria - 26-28 September 2017
Vienna, 26-28 September 2017 - UNIDO ITPO Italy took part at the second annual Belt and Road Initiative, organized at UNIDO HQs in Vienna with a focus on helping cities develop green economies. The event brought together more than 500 participants coming from 131 cities from 65 countries, as well as representatives of municipal governments, the business sector, development agencies and academia. Also the mayors of Cairo, Lanzhou, Luxor, Kabul, Karachi, Nuremberg, Poznañ, and Tirana, as well as the President of Friuli Venezia Giulia Region took part of this event.
The event, organized by UNIDO and the Finance Center for South-South Cooperation (FCSSC), was designed to support the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, hailed by the UN General Assembly as a vehicle for economic integration in participating regions for the advancement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
At this event a "high-level policy dialogue" took place, which aimed to facilitate a constructive dialogue between policy-makers and key development stakeholders like financial institutions, international organizations, business and industry, in order to guide event participants throughout the whole process of sustainable urban-industrial development, by connecting policy to practice.
During the opening ceremony, the President of Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Mrs. Debora Serracchiani, highlighted how the development of green economy around the Silk Road will have a positive impact on the full implementation of 2030 Agenda for SDGs, and how the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia is already actively collaborating in this initiative. At the same time, the Director General of UNIDO, Mr. Li Yong, said that: "UNIDO is closely engaging with its Member States situated along the Belt and Road, and its partners, encouraging cities to play a leading role in shaping the future of sustainable urban industrial development".
During the event, Mrs. Serracchiani, specially invited by UNIDO ITPO Italy, held also bilateral meetings with Mr. John WU, Vice Chairman and Director General of the FCSCC and with Mr. Li Yong, Director General of UNIDO. During these bilateral meeting, Ms. Serracchiani confirmed the important relationship that exists between UNIDO and Friuli Venezia Giulia, which has permitted to strengthen bilateral cooperation with China and reaffirmed the interest of the Region to seize the opportunity offered by the New Silk Road, due its strategic position in the Mediterranean Area, and in particular for the port city of Trieste, which will likely become one of the Belt and Road terminals.