D2.3 EU-China cooperation

EU-China cooperation in
GuiDanCe

EU-China cooperation

February 2018
Deliverable D2.3

Authors:
Nikolaos Kontinakis, EUROCITIES
Rebecca Portail, EUROCITIES

This publication has been produced within the GuiDanCe – Support the coordination of cities’ activities via the
Green Digital Charter project. The GuiDanCe project is financed by the Horizon2020 Framework Programme for
Research and Innovation (grant agreement no 653640). For more information on the GuiDanCe project and the
Green Digital Charter: www.greendigitalcharter.eu.
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect
the opinion of the European Union. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made
of the information contained therein.

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CONTENTS

1 Introduction .........................................................................................5
1.1 Strengthening the Green Digital Charter ...................................................5
1.2 EU-China & international cooperation ......................................................5

2 Steps taken to deliver the task ...................................................................7
2.1 Overview ........................................................................................7
2.2 EU-China cooperation .........................................................................7
2.2.1 06/03/2015: China Daily article about EU-China collaboration on urbanization 8
2.2.2 29/04/2015: Seminar hosted by the Committee of Regions in Brussels...........8
2.2.3 29/06/2015: EU-China high-level urbanisation forum and smart cities sub-forum
9
2.2.4 30/06/2015: High-level NDRC delegation visits EUROCITIES........................9
2.2.5 01/07/2015: Delegation from the city of Shenzhen visits EUROCITIES............9
2.2.6 19/10/2015: CHOICE project conference in Lisbon ..................................9
2.2.7 06/11/2015: Lunch discussion about EU-China collaboration in the EUROCITIES
annual conference in Munich.................................................................... 10
2.2.8 18-19/12/2015: “EU-China Forum on Sustainable Urban Development” in Foshan
10
2.2.9 January-June 2016: MoU between EUROCITIES and NDRC/CCUD ................ 10
2.2.10 02/06/2016: Meeting with Euro-China Green & Smart City Awards........... 11
2.2.11 12/10/2016: Weihai high-level delegation visits Ghent......................... 11
2.2.12 29/11-2/12/2016: Dragonstar+ workshop in Ningbo & meetings in Beijing .. 11
2.2.13 19-21/03/2017: EU-China forum on sustainable urban development & signing
of MoU between EUROCITIES and NDRC/CCUD in Putian.................................... 12
2.2.14 29/03/2017: A delegation from CAUPD visits Brussels .......................... 12
2.2.15 19/05/2017: International cooperation speednetworking session in the
EUROCITIES cooperation platform in Antwerp................................................ 12
2.2.16 29/09/2017: Meeting with ECMDC ................................................. 12
2.2.17 26-28/09/2017: 2nd “BRIDGE for cities” & “One Belt, One Road” conference in
Vienna 13
2.2.18 25-26/10/2017: CAUPD conference in Beijing.................................... 13
2.2.19 17/11/2017: EU-China speednetworking session in the EUROCITIES annual

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conference in Ljubljana ......................................................................... 13
2.3 International cooperation .................................................................. 13

2.3.1 Discussions with the World Cities project and the International Urban
Cooperation (IUC) project ....................................................................... 13
2.3.2 04/10/2016: EU-India, “The City of Tomorrow: Urban Transformation Seed
Community” meeting, Brussels ................................................................. 14
2.3.3 29/11/2016: EU-India, “The City of Tomorrow: Urban Transformation Seed
Community” meeting, New Delhi............................................................... 14
2.3.4 17/03/2017: EU-India, “The City of Tomorrow: Urban Transformation Seed
Community” meeting, Brussels ................................................................. 14
2.4 Results and next-steps ...................................................................... 14
3 Annex I: MoU between EUROCITIES and NDRC/CCUD........................................ 16
4 Annex II: URBAN-EU-CHINA executive summary .............................................. 28
5 Annex III: TRANS-URBAN-EU-CHINA executive summary .................................... 30
6 Annex IV: Presentation of GDC in the high-level EU-China urbanisation forum, Brussels,
29/06/2015 ............................................................................................. 32

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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Strengthening the Green Digital Charter

The second work package of GuiDanCe project offers the tools needed to keep Green Digital
Charter (GDC) a strong European initiative: relevant to and in line with recent developments
and trends; close to its signatory cities through the operation of a dedicated contact point;
close to and in collaboration with all major initiatives, projects and stakeholders; in
collaboration with Chinese cities that share the same objectives and work for a green digital
agenda.

Moreover, the options to keep GDC and its results sustainable after the project’s end will be
examined in the exploitation plan. Strengthening of the GDC includes the effort to increase
the number of the signatory cities, a task which is a responsibility of the GDC contact point.

1.2 EU-China & international cooperation

Under this task, work started from the exact point of progress that FP7-NiCE project had
reached. Continuous communication and collaboration with the Chinese institutions (Ministry
of Industry and Information Technology, MIIT and its China Academy of Telecommunication
Research, CATR afterwards renamed as CAICT) continued with the aim to establish a first
network of 15 Chinese cities. After this milestone would be reached, GuiDanCe would act as
the focal point between the European and the Chinese GDC signatory cities, under the EU-
China urbanisation partnership.

Guidance was expected, through this task, to contribute in the wider EU-China urbanisation
partnership in one or more of the following ways: help in the identification of cities, experts
and stakeholders that are interested in the EU-China partnership, help in the identification
of best examples for various sectors of the EU-China partnership, participate in relevant
events and activities, liaise with officers and experts from EU and EU funded projects to
promote the EU-China partnership, etc.

During GuiDanCe, cooperation with a number of stakeholders to promote the creation of the
Chinese GDC network and momentum for the EU-China cooperation at city level would be
strengthened:

· The EU-China Policy Dialogues Support Facility (PDSF) was a project co-funded by
the European Union and China to facilitate and support implementation of Policy
Dialogues between the EU and China. FP7-NiCE was in open communication with PDSF
since June 2013 so as to create synergies and help each other for the accomplishment
of their objectives;

· The "Europe-China Eco-Cities" EC-LINK project was recognised in the "Agenda 2020"
as a major cooperation platform for the EU-China Urbanisation Partnership. Through
EUROCITIES which participated in EC-LINK as a partner responsible for EU-China city
networking, synergies were explored and created;

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· OPENCHINA-ICT was a project supported by the European Commission under FP7 and
aiming at contributing to the development of cooperation in ICT research between
Europe and China. OPENCHINA-ICT and FP7-NiCE were in contact in order to help
each other with the communication activities or explore the possibilities of
collaboration in events;

· The Regional Development Policy Unit of OECD and the European Policy Centre
(EPC) worked with EUROCITIES either to invite the latter as speaker/participant to
events or to help identify cities that can participate in events.

Apart from China, this task would recognise, in a reactive way, opportunities for
international cooperation, related to GDC aim and objectives, in other regions of the world.
If, after discussion with the EUROCITIES secretariat and DG CONNECT, some of these
opportunities were found to be important for the GDC work, GuiDanCe project would
dedicate some effort to identify and foster contacts with the respective stakeholders.

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2 S T EPS TAK EN TO DE LI VE R TH E TAS K

2.1 Overview

Work under this task started from the point that FP7-NiCE project had reached and continued
for the creation of a EU-China GDC network of cities. All in all, and contrary to the promising
conditions of 2015, the target was not reached, and currently there is no indication that
there is interest – especially from the Chinese side – for the creation of a dedicated network
of cities around ICT, digital and smart technologies. As a result, Milestone 2 of GuiDanCe
was not reached during the project and is not foreseen to be reached soon or while the
conditions remain the same.

Nevertheless, GDC and EUROCITIES kept working closely and intensively with EU and the
Chinese government at the highest level and managed to remain part but also strengthen
their position in the ecosystem of the EU-China urbanisation partnership.

In the next paragraphs, the detailed reporting of all activities regarding cooperation with
China and other areas of the world can be found.

2.2 EU-China cooperation

Continuous communication and collaboration with the Chinese institutions (Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology, MIIT and its China Academy of Telecommunication
Research, CATR, now CAICT and the National Development and Reform Commission, NDRC)
continued with the aim to establish a network of 15 Chinese cities. After this milestone
would be reached, GuiDanCe would act as the focal point between the European and the
Chinese GDC signatory cities, under and parallel to the EU-China urbanisation partnership
framework.

After the first promotion breakthroughs, several changes in the stakeholders’ positioning
and availability totally altered the landscape and what EUROCITIES/GDC could or should
work with and for:

· PDSF: The end of the smart cities dialogue in the frame of PDSF left a void in terms
of a forum where open and neutral ICT-related dialogues could take place. This
development made also GDC a bit irrelevant for the Chinese side as the charter was
part of the sectorial dialogue between EU and China.

· CAICT & DG CNECT: The direct policy dialogue between DG CNECT and CAICT (or
MIIT) seemed to inert after the end of PDSF. This was translated in fewer meetings
and joint initiatives, especially in the political and institutional level where GDC is
more relevant.

· NDRC/CCUD: From the Chinese side, starting in 2016, the bulk of EU-China
urbanisation partnership activities was centralised and handled by NDRC1 and its

1 National Development and Reform Commission

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CCUD2 centre. This included also overall policy dialogues, joint projects and
initiatives. For GDC’s point of view, this meant that, on one hand, a new and active
interlocutor was taking over discussions but, on the other hand, that the focus of the
dialogue became more high-level and encompassed the whole urbanisation
partnership.
· EC-LINK: In June 2016, EUROCITIES officially asked to withdraw from the consortium
of EC-LINK project. This came because of the poor - if not almost zero – outputs and
results of the project until that time. Overall, the underperformance of EC-LINK
hindered the negotiating position of GDC as the latter was among the conditions that
a European city should cover to be paired with a Chinese on in the frame of EC-LINK.

Summing up these changes, during 2016, GDC lost important political back-up and substance
that had been built around EC-LINK and the PDSF dialogues and had to move from a specific
dialogue to the more generic, EU-China urbanisation framework one. As a result, EUROCITIES
and GDC had to follow this change and the objectives of their EU-China dialogues.

This adaptation was swift and EUROCITIES managed to secure a position in the consortia that
won two H2020 EU-China collaboration projects:

1. URBAN-EU-CHINA project (733571), led by NTNU, Norway with a start date of
01/01/2017;

2. TRANS-URBAN-EU-CHINA project (770141), led by IOER, Germany with a start date of
01/01/2018.

Both projects deal with sustainable and inclusive urbanisation and have a very strong R&I
and new technologies dimension. Nevertheless, the projects are not ICT specific and, as a
result, GDC is a secondary if at all dimension in their development and delivery.

Added to that, EUROCITIES and GuiDanCe worked in parallel with stakeholders and cities in
2016 and 2017 to keep GDC part of the EU-China dialogue and the objective of an EU-China
GDC network of cities a tangible proposal.

GuiDanCe organised many activities to promote EU-China collaboration during its lifetime:

2.2.1 06/03/2015: China Daily article about EU-China collaboration on
urbanization

China Daily ran a special report on climate watch – Paris 2015 and as part of it published the
article “Smart Steps to Greener Future” based on interviews and material from key
stakeholders, among of which EUROCITIES.

2.2.2 29/04/2015: Seminar hosted by the Committee of Regions in
Brussels

A seminar under the title “Post-Carbon Cities for a Sustainable and Integrated Development”

2 China Centre for Urban Development

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was organised in the Committee of the Regions by EUPIC (EU Project Innovation Centre /
Chengdu). In the seminar, EUROCITIES presented the network, promoted its model of
networking and knowledge sharing among cities and presented GDC as an example suitable
to bridge European and Chinese cities.

2.2.3 29/06/2015: EU-China high-level urbanisation forum and smart
cities sub-forum

During the high-level urbanisation forum, a
number of sub-forums and parallel events took
place. GDC was invited to present the network of
European cities and the idea of a Chinese GDC
network in the smart cities sub-forum alongside
PDSF project, JPI Urban Europe, CAICT from China,
a European and a Chinese city.

Since this presentation of GDC took place in the
frame of a high-level urbanisation forum, the material used can be found in the Annex as an
example of the narrative GDC used to promote the idea of a EU-China GDC network.

Apart from the presentation in the sub-forum, GDC was included in the briefing notes of
three Mayors and Deputy-Mayors that spoke in the main forum, namely those of Amsterdam,
Bristol and Manchester.

2.2.4 30/06/2015: High-level NDRC delegation visits EUROCITIES

One day after the smart cities sub-forum and following the presentation of EUROCITIES and
GDC, NDRC asked to have the opportunity and visit EUROCITIES and better understand its
activities and potential of collaboration with China.

During the visit, EUROCITIES presented GDC and other initiatives like the Covenant of Mayors,
EC-LINK project and the “Do the right mix” campaign. Representatives from three GDC
signatories participated and presented best cases from their cities, including GDC: Bristol,
Gothenburg and Malmo.

2.2.5 01/07/2015: Delegation from the city of Shenzhen visits
EUROCITIES

A delegation of the city of Shenzhen visited EUROCITIES, following-up the EU-China high-
level urbanisation forum. EUROCITIES presented its main activities and EU-China objectives,
including GDC. Shenzhen presented their focus on creative industries and an increase in the
international relations with Europe.

2.2.6 19/10/2015: CHOICE project conference in Lisbon

EUROCITIES participated in the final event of CHOICE3 project in Lisbon.
Green Digital Charter and GuiDanCe were presented in the first panel
session along with EU-China-FIRE project.

3 www.euchina-ict.eu

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2.2.7 06/11/2015: Lunch discussion about EU-China collaboration in
the EUROCITIES annual conference in Munich

During the 2015 annual conference of EUROCITIES in Munich, the GuiDanCe and EC-LINK
projects, activities and benefits for the cities were presented in a networking lunch,
organised on 6 November. Representatives of almost 20 European cities participated and
explained how they approach EU-China collaboration and what they would expect from the
two projects.

2.2.8 18-19/12/2015: “EU-China Forum on Sustainable Urban
Development” in Foshan

CCUD organised the 2015 EU-China forum on
sustainable urban development in Foshan in 18
and 19 December. EUROCITIES participated in
the event:

· with a keynote speech under the title
“Helping cities in their effort to become
smart and sustainable”;

· by offering opening remarks in the
session “EU-China cities exchange”;

· by participating in the “Foshan night talk: transforming and upgrading Foshan from
the perspective of European urbanisation process” discussion.

2.2.9 January-June 2016: MoU between EUROCITIES and NDRC/CCUD

As a result of the high-level
exchanges between EUROCITIES and
NDRC in June 2015, it was decided
that the two organisations should
work for the compilation of a MoU
between them. This took place in the
first half of 2016 although the MoU
wasn’t signed until the next high-level
event that took place in China,
namely the CCUD forum on
sustainable urban development in
Putian.

As Article 1 states: “The purpose of this MOU is to establish a collaborative mechanism
between the Parties to achieve common objectives in the exchange of information between
EU and China, the promotion of relevant programs and joint activities and the exploration
of available or future resources that can be used for the foreseen areas of cooperation,
with the ultimate goal of healthy and sustainable development of European and Chinese
cities”.

The MoU was welcomed by both EU and Chinese government stakeholders. From the side of
EUROCITIES, the proposed text included a provision to work towards the creation of a GDC-

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inspired network of cities, an objective that remained in the text as area of cooperation (4).

The full text of the MoU can be found in Annex I.

2.2.10 02/06/2016: Meeting with Euro‐China Green & Smart City Awards

EUROCITIES and Euro-China Green & Smart City Awards
met in Brussels to explore if the former would be
interested to contribute and/or participate in the Euro-
China Green & Smart City Awards event that would take
place in Shenzhen, in 9-11 December 2016. EUROCITIES and GDC promised to help with
promoting the event to European cities and/or encouraging them to participate in the
sessions and awards.

2.2.11 12/10/2016: Weihai high‐level delegation visits Ghent

A high-level delegation from Weihai
visited the city of Ghent in October
2016. The delegation was received
from the Mayor of Ghent and the City
Council. EUROCITIES was represented
in the public meeting of the two
delegations. GDC, GuiDanCe and the
URBAN-EU-CHINA project were
presented to the Ghent and Weihai
delegations.

2.2.12 29/11‐2/12/2016: Dragonstar+ workshop in Ningbo & meetings in
Beijing

Three different events and meetings
were organised at this occasion:

· 29-30/11, Ningbo: DragonStar+
organised an “Experts' Workshop
on Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Urban Development”. In Session 4, “Transition
towards sustainable and liveable urban futures”, EUROCITIES presented the European
perspective in sustainable urbanisation and economic transformation.

· 1/12, Beijing: many of the partners of URBAN-EU-CHINA project met in Beijing with
CAUPD and discussed how Chinese organisations and cities can be involved in the EU-
China cooperation.

· 2/12, Beijing: the same partners and stakeholders met with the EU Commerce
Chamber in China (EUCCC) to discuss the involvement of European and Chinese
business in the EU-China cooperation.

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2.2.13 19-21/03/2017: EU-China forum on sustainable urban
development & signing of MoU between EUROCITIES and
NDRC/CCUD in Putian

EUROCITIES participated in the Putian
meeting for three different important
reasons:

· The “2017 EU-China Forum on
Sustainable Urban Development &
Inception Meeting of 100 Pairing
Cities/Programs”. EUROCITIES was a co-
organiser of the event and during its
keynote speech slot presented, once
again, its ideas on city networking and how GDC could contribute to this.

· The signing of the MoU between EUROCITIES and NDRC/CCUD that was prepared
during 2016.

· The kick-off meeting of URBAN-EU-CHINA project with the participation of high-level
representatives from the EU delegation in China and the government of China.

2.2.14 29/03/2017: A delegation from CAUPD visits Brussels

One week after the Putian event, a high-level delegation from CAUPD visited Brussels to
meet with EU officials and participate in the URBAN-EU-CHINA launch event that took place
at the same day. In the morning of 29/03 the CAUPD met with EUROCITIES to discuss areas
of potential collaboration. The meeting was followed by a study visit in the city of Brussels
and smart and sustainable project the city has implemented (Tour & Taxis, Canal area, MIMA
museum, etc.).

2.2.15 19/05/2017: International cooperation speednetworking session
in the EUROCITIES cooperation platform in Antwerp

During the 2017 cooperation platform of EUROCITIES in Antwerp, the GuiDanCe and URBAN-
EU-CHINA projects, activities and benefits for the cities were presented in a
speednetworking session. Representatives of almost 30 European cities participated and
explained how they approach EU-China collaboration and what they would expect from the
two projects.

2.2.16 29/09/2017: Meeting with ECMDC

EUROCITIES met in Brussels with EU-China Municipal Development Commission (ECMDC), a
European NGO that works as a facilitator for cultural exchange, economic cooperation and
sci-tech innovation between EU Member states and China and aspires to serve as a bridge
for EU-China partnership on urbanization. The two organisations exchanged on their projects
and plans and discussed potential areas of collaboration.

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2.2.17 26‐28/09/2017: 2nd
“BRIDGE for cities” & “One
Belt, One Road” conference in
Vienna

EUROCITIES attended this conference,
organised in the UNIDO headquarters in
Vienna. Many EUROCITIES members and
GDC signatories were represented in
the event as well as Chinese and
international stakeholders with some of

which EUROCITIES organised bilateral meetings.

2.2.18 25‐26/10/2017: CAUPD conference in Beijing

CAUPD organised the “China-EU Conference on Sustainable Urbanisation: Innovative-Driven
Development in New Areas 2017” conference in Beijing. The event offered opportunities of
matchmaking for European and Chinese cities and GDC used some of the travel funds it had
to cover the travel costs of two European cities (Nice, a signatory city and Athens, a city
that has expressed interest to sign the GDC) to join the event.

2.2.19 17/11/2017: EU‐China speednetworking session in the
EUROCITIES annual conference in Ljubljana

During the 2017 annual conference of EUROCITIES in
Ljubljana, the GuiDanCe, URBAN-EU-CHINA and
TRANS-URBAN-EU-CHINA projects, activities and
benefits for the cities were presented in a
speednetworking session. Representatives of almost
20 European cities participated and explained how
they approach EU-China collaboration and what they
would expect from the three projects.

2.3 International cooperation

Apart from China, this task tried to identify in other regions of the world, in a reactive way,
opportunities for international cooperation, related to GDC aim and objectives. To this end,
a number of activities (without use of ‘other direct costs’ from the GuiDanCe project) took
place:

2.3.1 Discussions with the World Cities project and the International
Urban Cooperation (IUC) project

In the last three years, a frequent
communication has been established between
GDC and the project coordination team of the
World Cities and the IUC Asia projects. The
idea is to keep communication open with these
two important projects and explore
opportunities for pairing European with Chinese (or Asian in general) cities, especially

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European cities that either have signed the GDC or have declared their interest to do so.
Also, to investigate opportunities for new projects in which GDC or signatory cities can play
a significant role in the consortium.

2.3.2 04/10/2016: E U-India, “The C ity of To morrow: Urban
Transformation Se ed Co mmunity” me eti ng, Brussels

EUROCITIES participated in the 2nd “Urban transformation” seed community meeting
organised by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Brussels. The meeting aimed to bring together
relevant stakeholders from the urban sector in Europe and India and create a community
that would serve as a laboratory for narratives and an incubator for catalytic projects in
India.

2.3.3 29/11/2016: EU-India, “The
City of Tomorrow: Urban
Transformation Se ed
Community” meeting, New
Delhi

EUROCITIES participated in the 3rd “Urban
transformation” seed community meeting
organised by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in New
Delhi. The meeting aimed to allow the seed
community work on the ground with Indian
stakeholders and identify the conditions for successful urban transformation projects.

2.3.4 17/03/2017: E U-India, “The C ity of To morrow: Urban
Transformation Se ed Co mmunity” me eti ng, Brussels

EUROCITIES participated in the 4th “Urban transformation” seed community meeting
organised by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Brussels. The meeting aimed to use the experience
gathered from the first three meetings (especially the one in New Delhi) and propose ideas
for catalytic projects in India.

After this meeting and because of the poor results the entire process was producing,
EUROCITIES stopped attending these meetings. However, it remains available, if a promising
opportunity is proposed.

2.4 Results and next-steps

From the previous paragraphs it is evident that GuiDanCe worked a lot in creating the
conditions for a Chinese GDC network of cities to be materialised. Unfortunately, this did
not happen during the lifetime of GuiDanCe. Three key factors for this result have been:

· From the Chinese side, the different priorities of CCUD regarding the EU-China
urbanisation partnership. CCUD is more interested in sustainable urbanisation as a
whole and not in more focused thematics like smart or digital cities. This makes GDC
too narrow and Chinese cities are not expected to agree on a European initiative
without the explicit agreement of the Chinese government.

· From the European side, the diminished interest of DG CNECT to keep the dialogue

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with the Chinese government alive after the PDSF project ended. DG CNECT has
developed many and strong synergies with China. However, they are all very focused
and relate to specific technologies (e.g. 5G, future internet, etc.). To succeed, GDC
needs a wider and more political framework of dialogue, also one that addresses
cities and not only academia and/or business (technology developers and providers).
· Last but not least, EUROCITIES doesn’t have the economic power or leverage to
promise or structure a cooperation with China that will guarantee projects or
investments. In a highly competitive environment of (business) collaboration
opportunities this is clearly a weakness that cannot always be balanced by networking
or policy making qualities, both being strong points of EUROCITIES.
Having said that, EUROCITIES will continue after the end of GuiDanCe to support the idea
that networking of cities between China and Europe is a promising tool for the exchange of
knowledge and the creation of joint projects opportunities.
Especially in the area of smart cities, the GDC remains for EUROCITIES and its members the
suggested working format and a good starting point for cities to define priorities and
commitments and network with each other.

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3 ANNEX I: MOU BETWEEN EUROCITIES AND NDRC/CCUD

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4 ANNEX II: URBAN-EU-CHINA EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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5 ANNEX III: TRANS-URBAN-EU-CHINA EXECUTIVE
S U M M A RY

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6 AN N E X I V: P R ES E N TATI ON OF GD C IN T H E H I GH -L EV EL
EU-CHINA URBANISATION FORUM, BRUSSELS,
29/06/2015

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