4 Indian Cities among 36 Global Cities selected by WEF

Economic Affairs Infrastructure

24-Nov-20

Context: Recently, the World Economic Forum (WEF) selected 36 cities from 22 countries and 6 continents to pioneer a new global policy roadmap for smart cities developed by the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance.

The four selected Indian cities are Bengaluru, Faridabad, Indore and Hyderabad.

About

The selected cities will be collaborating with global experts and enhance their city policies.

The cities will have to adopt five policies

Better broadband coverage
Privacy protection
Accountability for cyber security
Better accessibility to digital city services for physically disabled
Increased openness of city data
The “pioneer cities” commenced their activities at a global event broadcast by the Smart City Expo World Congress.

About G20 Global Smart City Alliance

It was established in June 2019 during the Osaka G20 Summit.
The World Economic Forum(WEF), the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation, serves as secretariat for the Alliance.
It unites municipal, regional and national governments, private-sector partners and cities residents around a shared set of principles for the responsible and ethical use of smart city technologies.
It establishes and advances global policy norms to help accelerate best practices, mitigate potential risks, and foster greater openness and public trust.

About G20

The G20 countries are a group of 20 countries established in September 1999 by the finance ministers of the G7 countries as an international forum which would help preserve international financial stability.
Objective: To enable informal dialogue and cooperation among important countries in the world.
Members: The European Union and 19 other countries. India is a member.
G20 countries represent around 85% of global gross domestic product and over 75% of global trade.

About World Economic Forum (WEF)

It is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and has its headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland.
It engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Reports of WEF