As Chargé of International Affairs to several Lebanese municipalities, as well as the founder of Agenda Municipal Libanais, I had the pleasure of accepting the invitation that was extended to me by the Arab Towns Organization to attend the Second Forum of Chinese & Arab Cities - Joint Construction of Silk Road Communities, which took place in the Kingdom of Morocco on November 8-9, 2018.
Local Development Strategies
For the first topic of discussion, the Chinese delegation introduced the cities and how they function. Casablanca was presented as a sample of a city that attained this goal through local development. Other topics presented by the Chinese delegation revolved around the roles of the environment, infrastructure, municipal marketing and the housing sector, and their contribution to local development.
The final day of the forum focused on the heritage preservation sector, whereby one of the keynote speakers was Mr. Habib El Debs, Lebanese civil engineer and urban planner. Debs discussed best practices and strategies to best preserve Lebanon’s heritage by providing the city of Beirut as an example of such preservation.
Post Forum – What’s Next?
The beauty of this forum is that it paved the way to opening relations with China and various Arabic cities, with common goals for local development. What was astonishing and pleasant to see was how passionate the Chinese delegation was about the Arab culture, especially in learning the Arabic language. Many, whom I had the privilege of meeting and interacting with, spoke Arabic impressively well.
What started as a beneficial forum, ended in an even more fruitful and enriching manner than it had begun. I will refrain from divulging more about this until very soon … whereby I will be announcing a big surprise surrounding a Lebanese city, in the coming months ahead.