Wen Guohui, mayor of Guangzhou, met up with representatives from vice-chaired cities of the World Congress of Metropolis online on Sept 8 to move forward with the association's work. 

Guangzhou is the current chairman city of the World Congress of Metropolis.

The vice-chaired cities included Brussels, Belgium; Seoul, South Korea; Mashhad, Iran; Abidjan, Ivory Coast and Rosario, Argentina.

Wen said that the World Congress of Metropolis is an important international platform for metropolises to share experiences and resources, and should unite global city governors considering the current challenges in urban governance such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wen added that Guangzhou is looking forward to joining hands with member cities of the World Congress of Metropolis to move forward global urban governance on the basis of pursuing collaboration, participation and common interests.

Pressing issues such as COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, socio-economic development, climate change and the narrowing of digital gap were discussed during the meeting.

The World Congress of Metropolis, based in Barcelona, Spain, now has 141 member cities from 61 countries around the world.