Opening of 7th Asia Pacific Urban Forum (APUF7)

Speech by THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Chief Minister of Penang

YAB TUAN Chow Kon Yeow
at the Opening of 7th Asia Pacific Urban Forum (APUF7)

Good morning.

Firstly, I would like to welcome all participants to Penang for the 7th edition of the Asia-Pacific Urban Forum (APUF7). This is the first time the forum is held in Malaysia and Penang is honoured to host this three-day event.

I was told that this is the largest and most diverse urban forum with more than 7,000 delegates participating in its various programmes.  This forum is themed "Future of Asia and Pacific Cities: Transformative Pathways to Achieve 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" with an aim to gather urban stakeholders, civil society and policymakers from various countries to discuss critical urban development issues.

APUF7 is the first forum to be held after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 and the New Urban Agenda in 2016. While the forum focuses on countries in the Asia Pacific, we can see that countries outside the Asia Pacific are keen to take part in this event.

Representatives from a total of 57 countries are attending this forum and out of these countries, 30 countries are within the Asia Pacific region. This forum is an opportunity for Penang, and Malaysia, to connect with stakeholders and policymakers from the ASEAN region, the Commonwealth and other countries from all over the world.

APUF7 is a good platform for all countries to work together towards a common agenda, which is the transformative development through sustainable urbanisation and during this forum, The Future of Asia-Pacific Cities Report 2019 (FoAPC) and the Penang Platform for Sustainable Urbanisation (PPSU) will also be launched.

The FoAPC is a major report that looks at the implementation of urban solutions across different cities under four critical development challenges - natural resource management, climate change, disaster risk and rising inequalities.

Where else, the PPSU is where stakeholders and policymakers can declare their commitments towards a sustainable agenda. This is a platform for each country to determine the timeframe that they will implement their sustainable agendas, the funding that they will commit, the partners that they will work with and the potential projects and programmes that they hope to bring to fruition.

This is a fitting platform for Penang and Malaysia to be involved as we move towards our national and state’s 2030 agenda. It will provide us with the space and avenue to evaluate our 2030 agenda and synergise with other countries in the region. The subject matter discussed in PPSU is one that will involve different societal groups, stakeholders, policymakers, civil society and grassroot groups. It is a sharing platform perfect for various groups to come together to discuss, share and collaborate. As such, it is hoped that through APUF7, we can work with other countries within and outside this region to formulate policies and steps to address pressing environmental and urbanisation issues.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In Penang, we have a vision to become A Family-Focused Green and Smart State that Inspires the Nation. This is our Penang2030 vision. It is not a blueprint for development but an approach and a call to stakeholders to participate and contribute in shaping Penang’s future towards a liveable and green city. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda as it is the world's best plan to build a better world for people and our planet by 2030.

Penang2030 has four main themes - to increase liveability by enhancing the quality of life, to upgrade the economy by raising household incomes, to strengthen civic participation by empowering the people, and to improve resilience by investing in the built environment.

 

Penang is well on its way in becoming a smart city with our City Councils embracing Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data Analytics (BDA) to implement e-governance and digitalisation. We will soon be installing 5G infrastructure too. In line with this, next year, we will be hosting the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) and the inaugural Penang Techfest 2020 to showcase technological advances at its best from Artificial Intelligence (AI) to 5G connectivity.

Besides that, Penang is well aware of the need to keep a balance between development and environmental protection, so over the years, we have implemented various sustainable initiatives under our green agenda. Through the Penang Green Council (PGC), we have collaborated with various institutions to promote green activities especially in schools and educational institutions so that the younger generation can be involved in pushing the green agenda forward.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Spearheading towards the Penang2030 vision, it is the Penang State Government’s profound hope to work with the global community for the betterment of our state, country and the region as a whole. As such, I greatly hope this forum will result in umpteen positive partnerships and collaborations and I certainly hope the many discussions, dialogues and talks that we will be held over these three days will result in concrete plans that each country can commit and adopt to achieve our goal of creating liveable cities through sustainable planning. With that, I wish all delegates a pleasant and productive stay in Penang!

Thank you.