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BEIJING, June 30, 2022 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

The 2022 World Canal Cities Forum (WCCF), which was themed around heritage

protection and sustainable development of canal cities, was held in Yangzhou,

the canal capital of the world located in east China's Jiangsu Province on June

27.

Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China

(CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs

Commission of the CPC Central Committee, said canals are great projects created

by humankind and the forum would inject new impetus into prosperity and

development of canal cities globally and enhance people-to-people exchanges and

sustainable development.

Yangzhou, a leading city in joint application for world heritage for China's

Grand Canal and related heritage protection, was awarded as the model canal

city for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United

Nations on the forum.

A report of the same theme titled Yangzhou sustainable development report for

2021 was released on the 2022 WCCF by Beate Trankmann, the United Nations

Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative for China, in an effort to

provide a Yangzhou-based sustainable development sample for canal cities around

the world.

Previously in 2021, the UNDP China established together with the World Historic

and Cultural Canal Cities Cooperation Organization (WCCO) a set of sustainable

development indicators centered upon 56 gauges derived from prospects of the

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and available for quantifiable

assessment to appraise sustainable development performance of canal cities.

By the end of 2020, Yangzhou had completed 92.2 percent of the sustainable

development indicators and over a half of local indicators had reached the

ultimate goals.

In the future, Yangzhou will cherish its honor as the model city and join hands

with canal cities at home and abroad to jointly promote canal cultural heritage

protection and sustainable development of canal cities, said Zhang Baojuan,

Party chief of Yangzhou.

Co-hosted by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Jiangsu Provincial

People's Government, the forum also witnessed birth of the "Yangzhou

Initiative" dedicated to enhancing world canal cities heritage protection and

sustainable development via enhancing planning, adhering to joint construction

and sharing, attaching importance to innovation and integration and fostering

win-win cooperation.

See the original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/328767.html

SOURCE: Xinhua Silk Road

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=424568

   Caption: Photo provided to Xinhua shows the launching ceremony of the 2022 World Canal

Cities Forum.