Approximately 400 delegates from member cities of the International Association of Francophone Mayors Association (AIMF), including Vietnam’s Hue city, gathered at the 40th plenary meeting held in Phnom Penh to discuss the goals of building a sustainable city and dealing with challenges faced in urban development.

Photo: VNA 

In his opening speech, Khuong Sreng, the Mayor of Phnom Penh, highlighted the city’s remarkable changes over the four decades with modern urban planning and improvements in people’s living conditions throughout the Cambodian capital.

Despite these positives, Sreng noted that this level of rapid development poses various challenges to the city, including issues relating to housing and urban transportation.

Chau Van Loc, Vice Chairman of the Hue City People's Committee, joined with the Vietnamese delegation to give a presentation on the city’s urban planning project, including the relocation of roughly 2,500 households from the Hue Citadel area during the course of 2019 and 2020.

This project is expected to allow local people to stabilise their lives whilst simultaneously improving their living conditions and elevating the city’s tourism image.

Loc pointed out that with a number of similarities, cities across Southeast Asia can share their respective experience in urban development, including environmental and traffic issues.

Indeed, plenty of metropolitan areas across Southeast Asia have encountered financial difficulties when attempting to build smart cities with the application of modern technology as a means of coping with increasing levels of environmental pollution and garbage.

The head of the Vietnamese delegation underlined the need to learn from the development model of major cities in Europe and apply the model when necessary, depending on the different circumstances of each city.

AIMF 40 is scheduled to take place from December 2 to December 5 with several bilateral and regional conferences including the 39th AIMF General Assembly on December 4.