1 Inaugural General Assembly Meeting Minutes and Transcripts Meeting Minutes Date & Time: September 7 th , 2010, 10:30-11:30, 14:00-16:40 Location: Grand Ballroom, Grand Hyatt Seoul Hotel, Seoul, Republic of Korea Attendance: 120 Delegates from 49 cities and local governments worldwide Chair: Mr. KIM Il-soo, Acting Secretary General of WeGO, for Meeting 1 Dr. Petra Roth, Vice President of WeGO, for Meeting 2 Heads of Delegations Present: Madame Petra Roth, Mayor of Frankfurt Mr. Jordi William Carnes, Vice Mayor of Barcelona Madame Anjula Singh Mahor, Mayor of Agra Mr. Bakari Kingobi, City Director of Dar es Salaam Mr. Sadeque Hossain Khoka, Mayor of Dhaka Mr. Muchadeyi Ashton Masunda, Mayor of Harare Mr. Ananda Raj Pokharel, Mayor of Kathmandu Mr. Mohammed Awad Ahmed Osman, Minister of Culture and Media of Khartoum State Mr. Geoffrey Odhiambo Majiwa, Mayor of City Council of Nairobi Mr. Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul Mr. Chandra K. Umaria, Special Administrator for Suva City Council Mr. Mohamed Béji Ben Mami, Mayor of Tunis Mr. Munkhbayar Gombosuren, Mayor of Ulaanbaatar Mr. Mao Zhi Xiong, Assistant Mayor and Secretary General of Chengdu Municipal Government Mr. Xu Zhengxian, Deputy Director-General of the General Office of Hunan Provincial People's Government Mr. Margani Muhammad Mustar, Deputy Governor of Jakarta Province Mr. Bohodir Rihsialievich Gaibnazarov, Deputy Mayor of Tashkent Mr. Peer Visner, Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv Mr. Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Mr. Tesfaye Haile Gebreslassie from Ethiopia, Addis Ababa Madame Priscylla Beentjes from Amsterdam, the Netherlands Mr. Askar Rakhimzhanov from Astana, Kazakhstan Mr. Khalid Alakbarov from Baku, Azerbaijan Mr. Supachai Tantikom from Bangkok, Thailand Mr. Syamsul Bahrum from Batam, Indonesia Mr. Karl-Heinz Loeper from Berlin, Germany Mr. Glyn Evans from Birmingham, UK Mr. Catalin Grosu from Bucharest, Romania Mr. Santi Sène Hagne from Dakar, Senegal Mr. Chris Moore from Edmonton, Canada Mr. Kari Miskala from Helsinki, Finland
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Inaugural General Assembly Meeting Minutes and Transcripts
Meeting Minutes Date & Time: September 7th, 2010, 10:30-11:30, 14:00-16:40 Location: Grand Ballroom, Grand Hyatt Seoul Hotel, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Attendance: 120 Delegates from 49 cities and local governments worldwide Chair:
Mr. KIM Il-soo, Acting Secretary General of WeGO, for Meeting 1 Dr. Petra Roth, Vice President of WeGO, for Meeting 2 Heads of Delegations Present: Madame Petra Roth, Mayor of Frankfurt Mr. Jordi William Carnes, Vice Mayor of Barcelona Madame Anjula Singh Mahor, Mayor of Agra Mr. Bakari Kingobi, City Director of Dar es Salaam Mr. Sadeque Hossain Khoka, Mayor of Dhaka Mr. Muchadeyi Ashton Masunda, Mayor of Harare Mr. Ananda Raj Pokharel, Mayor of Kathmandu Mr. Mohammed Awad Ahmed Osman, Minister of Culture and Media of Khartoum State Mr. Geoffrey Odhiambo Majiwa, Mayor of City Council of Nairobi Mr. Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul Mr. Chandra K. Umaria, Special Administrator for Suva City Council Mr. Mohamed Béji Ben Mami, Mayor of Tunis Mr. Munkhbayar Gombosuren, Mayor of Ulaanbaatar Mr. Mao Zhi Xiong, Assistant Mayor and Secretary General of Chengdu Municipal Government Mr. Xu Zhengxian, Deputy Director-General of the General Office of Hunan Provincial People's Government Mr. Margani Muhammad Mustar, Deputy Governor of Jakarta Province Mr. Bohodir Rihsialievich Gaibnazarov, Deputy Mayor of Tashkent Mr. Peer Visner, Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv Mr. Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Mr. Tesfaye Haile Gebreslassie from Ethiopia, Addis Ababa Madame Priscylla Beentjes from Amsterdam, the Netherlands Mr. Askar Rakhimzhanov from Astana, Kazakhstan Mr. Khalid Alakbarov from Baku, Azerbaijan Mr. Supachai Tantikom from Bangkok, Thailand Mr. Syamsul Bahrum from Batam, Indonesia Mr. Karl-Heinz Loeper from Berlin, Germany Mr. Glyn Evans from Birmingham, UK Mr. Catalin Grosu from Bucharest, Romania Mr. Santi Sène Hagne from Dakar, Senegal Mr. Chris Moore from Edmonton, Canada Mr. Kari Miskala from Helsinki, Finland
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Mr. Kenneth Kin Cheng from Hong Kong Mr. Phan Xuan Ho from Hue City, Vietnam Mr. Jean-Luc Rochefort from La Manche, France Mr. Miguel Alves from Lisbon, Portugal Madame Lydia Pasalo Domingo from Manila, the Philippines Madame Josune Arcelus de Diego from Mexico City Mr. Uladzimir Lebedzeu from Minsk, Belarus Mr. Bernard de Broglio from Mosman, Australia Mr. Khalid Dawood Alzadjali from Muscat, Oman Mr. Tang Jianrong from Nanjing, China Mr. Gu Dedao from Ningbo, China Mr. Lionel Bordeaux from Paris, France Mr. Reynaldo Paul M. Imjada from Quezon, the Philippines Mr. Youm Jong Sun from Saga Prefectural Government, Japan Mr. Chris Vein from San Francisco Mr. Edilson Mougenot Bonfirm from São Paulo, Brazil Mr. Oleg V. Zubakov from Vladivostok, Russia Mr. Jiang Hua from Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government, China
Proceedings: l Meeting I called to order at 10:35. l Attendants to meeting introduced at 10:37 by Chair. l Meeting agenda introduced at 10:45 by Chair. l Outcomes from Preparatory Executive Committee Meeting briefed at 10:48 by Dr.
SONG Jung-hee, Acting Assistant Secretary General. l First agenda on draft statute tabled at 10:55. l Second agenda on election of president city tabled at 11:00. l Third agenda on appointment of vice president cities tabled at 11:03. l Inaugural Speeches delivered at 11:05 by President Oh Se-hoon and Acting
Executive Vice President Jordi William Carnes. l Fourth agenda on election of executive committee members tabled at 11:11. l Meeting adjourned at 11:20 for lunch until 14:00. l Meeting II called to order at 14:00. l e-Sharing for All Initiative presented at 14:05 by Assistant Secretary General. l Best e-Government Practices presented and shared at 14:15-14:50 by representatives
from Addis Ababa, Barcelona, and Berlin. l Meeting adjourned at 14:50 for coffee break. l Meeting resumed at 15:10 for best e-government practice presentations by
representatives from Birmingham, Frankfurt, and Lisbon. l The floor opened at 15:40 for discussions on future development of WeGO. l Last agenda on selection of Host City for the 2nd General Assembly 2012 tabled. l Meeting closed at 16:30 with remarks by President of WeGO.
Outcomes: l Draft statute proposed at the meeting was adopted as the statute of WeGO. l Seoul was elected as the first president city of WeGO.
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l The president city appointed Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Nairobi, Paris, San Francisco, and São Paulo as Vice President Cities of WeGO, and Barcelona will assume the position of Executive Vice President City among them.
l Addis Ababa, Dakar, Edmonton, Jakarta, Khartoum, Suva, and Tunis were elected as members of Executive Committee along with the president and vice president cities.
l Following issues and ideas were raised during floor discussions on the future development of WeGO.
- How can we justify spending in big IT projects which usually show high rate of failure? How can we convince political leaders to put priority on IT over other topics? - raised by Madame Josune Arcelus de Diego from Mexico City
- How can we utilize good e-governance practices for conflict prevention, management, and resolution? - raised by Mr. Mohammed Awad Ahmed Osman from Khartoum State
- Developing countries need technical and financial support from developed countries in e-governments. - raised by Mr. Ananda Raj Pokharel from Kathmandu
- Good e-government practices and solutions shared during the meeting are useful tools for cities with a wide range of interests, and e-government will appeal in Zimbabwe. In order to convince political leaders of the importance of e-government, we will need to establish very clear tones of policies. - raised by Mr. Muchadeyi Ashton Masunda from Harare
l Barcelona City Council was selected as the host of 2nd General Assembly 2012. l Executive Committee Meeting 2011 will also be held in Barcelona.
Future Business: l Members of Executive Committee will meet in Barcelona in 2011 for the Executive
Committee meeting. Dates and programs are to be determined. l Website of WeGO will work as a platform for further discussions and sharing of good
e-government practices among members.
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Meeting Transcripts
10:35 Opening
Facilitator: Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen,
Now let us commence the Inaugural General Assembly of the World e-Governments Organization
2010 Meeting 1. As you consented in World Cities CIO Forum 2009, city of Seoul will work as an
acting Chair City. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Mayor Oh Se-hoon of Seoul
Metropolitan City who will chair the meeting. Please welcome Mayor Oh with big round of applauds.
10:36 Welcome Remark
Mr. Oh Se-hoon, Acting President of WeGO:
Good morning!
It is my great honour to preside over the inaugural general assembly meeting.
I will do my best for a productive meeting and a successful launch of WeGO.
Let me first introduce my colleagues at the interim secretariat of WeGO – Secretary General Mr. Kim
Il-soo who serves as Ambassador to International Affairs of Seoul and Assistant Secretary General Dr.
Jung-hee Song who serves as CIO of Seoul and has led the working group to organize this assembly
meeting.
Now let us open the meeting 1, and Mr. Kim will chair the meeting on my behalf.
10:37-10:45 Introduction of Participants
Mr. Il-soo Kim, Acting Secretary General:
Good morning, distinguished mayors and delegates from the entire world,
With the mandate of Mr. President, it is my great honour to work with you at this General Assembly
session for the successful launch of the World e-Governments Organization. Before starting the
meeting, I would like to introduce each delegate to the General Assembly. When I call your name one
by one, please stand up and greet the other delegates. And also, ladies and gentlemen, when each
delegate stands up, please give him/her a warm welcome with applauds.
So let me introduce distinguished delegates. First, Madame Petra Roth, Mayor of Frankfurt; Mr. Jordi
William Carnes, Vice Mayor of Barcelona; Madame Anjula Singh Mahor, Mayor of Agra; Mr. Bakari
Kingobi, City Director of Dar es Salaam; Mr. Sadeque Hossain Khoka, Mayor of Dhaka; Mr.
Muchadeyi Ashton Masunda, Mayor of Harare; Mr. Ananda Raj Pokharel, Mayor of Kathmandu; Mr.
Mohammed Awad Ahmed Osman, Minister of Culture and Media of Khartoum State; Mr. Geoffrey
Odhiambo Majiwa, Mayor of City Council of Nairobi; Mr. Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul; Mr. Chandra
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K. Umaria, Special Administrator for Suva City Council; Mohamed Béji Ben Mami, Mayor of Tunis;
Mr. Munkhbayar Gombosuren, Mayor of Ulaanbaatar; Mr. Mao Zhi Xiong, Assistant Mayor and
Secretary General of Chengdu Municipal Government; Mr. Xu Zhengxian, Deputy Director-General
of the General Office of Hunan Provincial People's Government; Mr. Margani Muhammad Mustar,
Deputy Governor of Jakarta Province; Mr. Bohodir Rihsialievich Gaibnazarov, Deputy Mayor of
Tashkent; Mr. Peer Visner, Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv; Mr. Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori from Abu
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Mr. Tesfaye Haile Gebreslassie from Ethiopia, Addis Ababa; Madame
Priscylla Beentjes from Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Mr. Askar Rakhimzhanov from Astana,
Kazakhstan; Mr. Khalid Alakbarov from Baku, Azerbaijan; Mr. Supachai Tantikom from Bangkok,
Thailand; Mr. Syamsul Bahrum from Batam, Indonesia; Mr. Karl-Heinz Loeper from Berlin,
Germany; Mr. Glyn Evans from Birmingham, UK; Mr. Catalin Grosu from Bucharest, Romania; Mr.
Santi Sène Hagne from Dakar, Senegal; Mr. Chris Moore from Edmonton, Canada; Mr. Kari Miskala
from Helsinki, Finland; Mr. Kenneth Kin Cheng from Hong Kong; Mr. Phan Xuan Ho from Hue City,
Vietnam; Mr. Jean-Luc Rochefort from La Manche, France; Mr. Miguel Alves from Lisbon, Portugal;
Madame Lydia Pasalo Domingo from Manila, the Philippines; Madame Josune Arcelus de Diego
from Mexico City; Mr. Uladzimir Lebedzeu from Minsk, Belarus; Mr. Bernard de Broglio from
Mosman, Australia; Mr. Khalid Dawood Alzadjali from Muscat, Oman; Mr. Tang Jianrong from
Nanjing, China; Mr. Gu Dedao from Ningbo, China; Mr. Lionel Bordeaux from Paris, France; Mr.
Reynaldo Paul M. Imjada from Quezon, the Philippines; Mr. Youm Jong Sun from Saga Prefectural
Government, Japan; Mr. Chris Vein from San Francisco; Mr. Edilson Mougenot Bonfirm from São
Paulo, Brazil; Mr. Oleg V. Zubakov from Vladivostok, Russia; Mr. Jiang Hua from Zhejiang
Provincial People’s Government, China
10:45-10:48 Introduction to Meeting 1 Agenda
Mr. Il-soo Kim, Acting Secretary General: Thank you and my heartfelt welcome to all
participating today’s meeting. Now I will briefly explain to you about today’s agenda. You may refer
to documents at your seats or you may see the screen on the stage. At the morning session, the Acting
Assistant Secretary General, Madame Song Jung-hee will brief you on the results of the preparatory
Executive Committee meeting that convened in June this year before this General Assembly meeting.
After the report, the draft statute of this organization will be presented to the General Assembly for
adoption as the constitutional document of the organization. After the adoption of the Statute, we will
proceed with forming Presidency of the Organization through the election of the president city and
appointment of executive vice president and vice president cities. It will be followed by the launching
of the Executive Committee, and the morning session will end.
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After a lunch break, there will be a presentation by Seoul on the theme of this General Assembly, “e-
Sharing for All” followed by presentations of best practices in e-governments by 7 participating cities
and local governments. Following the presentations, we will have a free discussion or talk on the way
to develop further our Organization. And any other issues from the members will be presented to the
General Assembly. Before closing of the General Assembly, we will discuss and decide the venue of
next General Assembly meeting. We will also at the same time let you know the venue of the next
Executive Committee meeting.
So, if there is no objection to the agenda, we will start today’s meeting with report by Madame Song
Jung-hee, Acting Assistant Secretary General. For information, she has been involved in the old
processes of initiating and preparing this General Assembly. So she is a key person in launching the e-
Government organization for which we are here today. Madame Song, please.
10:48-10:55 Briefing on the Preparatory Executive Committee
Dr. Jung-hee Song, Acting Assistant Secretary General:
Thank you.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!
This is Jung-hee Song temporarily in charge of Assistant Secretary General.
I am very honored to present this report about the preparatory Executive Committee meeting on
behalf of all attendees at the meeting.
The preparatory Executive Committee gathered in Seoul and worked together in June to share the
founding work of the World e-Governments Organization and discussed the potential agenda for
General Assembly including the statute. The aim of organizing this e-government collaborative
organization among cities are to achieve green growth through IT, to enhance digital capabilities in
governments, to attract more citizens participation, to use citizens knowledge and experiences, to
improve public service quality effectively, to bridge the digital gap within and among cities, and
finally to understand more about global neighbors and increase global cooperation. We believe wised
use of IT will enhance the value of citizens’ life globally. These are the cities whose representatives
are present today. Red stars are marked for the cities attended and contributed to the preparatory
Executive Committee meeting held in June.
WeGO was conceived at the World e-Government Mayors Forum in 2008. 33 cities were gratefully
attended the forum and adopted Seoul e-Government Declaration as a followed action item to the
forum. Following the outline in the declaration, we hosted the World Cities CIO Forum in 2009 to
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detail the scope of the organization settings around the global cities’ e-governments and e-governance.
At the meeting, we decided to set up a secretariat of the Organization in Seoul, and Seoul volunteered
to host the Inaugural General Assembly. The participants agreed on selecting Mayor Oh of Seoul
Metropolitan City as a provisional president at the Inaugural General Assembly.
In June 2010, we held a preparatory Executive Committee meeting to collect international knowledge
to set up the stage for the Inaugural General Assembly. During the meeting, we discussed the draft
statute item by item and future development of the Organization. The preparatory Committee was
held in schedule and open announcement was sent to all cities and local governments.
These are the people who came as the representatives of their cities and contributed knowledge,
experiences, and expertise to the organizational setup. The participating cities to the preparatory
Executive Committee are Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Beijing, Frankfurt, Nairobi, Paris, São Paulo, and
Seoul.
The result of discussion at the preparatory committee was reflected in finalizing the draft statute to be
presented today as well as open suggestions were digested from interest cities online. Now the final
draft statute is on the table, awaiting the approval of participants.
The draft statute is composed as you see on the screen. The major structure has been kept the same
since its appearance on the website last year. Some parts have been modified slightly and elaborated
as well. I trust all participants reviewed the final version of the statute upon your arrival to the General
Assembly.
Comparing before and after the June Committee, I present here only a few modified parts. Selection
process for the President, Executive Vice President, and Vice Presidents are specified as follows. For
the income of the Organization, membership fee payment schedule has been clarified so that members
of our Organization will not be confused when to and how to pay the membership fee. Also, in Article
15, the description on the expenditure was specified as well with the input of participating cities.
Besides the discussion of the statute of the Organization, the participants to the June committee freely
talked about the future development of the WeGO. We touched upon many topics such items as listed
on the slid: Some in more details and others in sketch sense of directions.
The organizational structure is drawn like this. The General Assembly is on the top, and the Executive
Committee is underneath with President, Executive Vice President, and Vice Presidents are formed
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under the Executive Committee. Under this forum umbrella, project group and special interest group
can be formed.
The Organization will use this official name and emblem. The official name is the World e-
Governments Organization of Cities and Local Governments. The emblem shown here contains some
profound meetings for key words of global, equal chance, revolution, green, and IT. We also
considered other option to synchronize for the internet domain name. For the beauty of simplicity,
however, we decided to keep the name as shown on the slide.
This concludes my progress report for the foundation of the Organization. Thank you very much.
10:55-11:00 Agenda 1. Draft Statute
Mr. Il-soo Kim, Acting Secretary General: Thank you Madame Assistant Secretary General.
Now according to the meeting agenda, I would like to present to you the draft statute of WeGO. As
was already reported by Madame Song, the draft statute consists of Preamble, six Chapters, and
twenty two Articles. The text was debated at the World Cities CIO Forum in 2009 and was further
elaborated, as reported by Madame Song, at the preparatory Executive Committee meeting convened
in June this year. And I would like to inform you that since April this year, with the opening of official
website of WeGO, the text of draft statute was posted and circulated among all participants to invite
opinions and comments. Today I would like to report you that it looks that all member cities, in
principle, on the proposed provisions of the draft statute. Given the importance of the statute as the
basic document of the Organization, however, I would like to open the floor for the distinguished
delegates to express opinions and ideas on the contents of the statute.
Mr. Mohammed Awad Ahmed Osman, Minister of Culture and Media of Khartoum
State: I find the statute sufficient representative of the shifting paradigm governing technology that
satisfies the growing needs of the world e-government. So I am in favor of supporting the motion for
adopting or approving the statute. Thank you.
Mr. Il-soo Kim, Acting Secretary General: Thank you, representative from Khartoum for
your supporting remark for this statute. As I mentioned, since this text has been circulated for quite a
long time, and we have got the supportive comments from all participants, I think we have general
consensus on the text of the statute. I would like to inform you that this document is the soft one, not
the hard one. So, at your suggestion, it’s open to adjustment and change. If you have constructive
ideas on how to improve the document, you can present it to the secretariat and we can discuss the
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proposal for amendment at the next General Assembly meeting in 2012. In the meantime, I think
everybody agrees on this statute. So I would like to suggest that we pass this statute not by voting but
with your rounds of big hands. (Rounds of Big Hands)
11:00-11:03 Agenda 2. Election of President City
Acting President of WeGO:
I extend my cordial thanks to all the delegates for your support on the Statute. We will move on to the
next agenda and will elect the president city of WeGO. Again, Mr. Kim will chair the procedure.
Mr. Il-soo Kim, Acting Secretary General: Thank you, Mr. President. Now the next agenda is
the election of the president city in accordance with Article 11. The cities running for the president is
supposed to present their candidacy to the secretariat two months before the general assembly and the
candidate city that receives the largest number of votes at the general assembly shall become elected
as the president city and service its two-year term. Today I would like to present that Seoul is the only
city that has declared its candidacy as president, and Seoul’s candidacy was notified to all prospective
members in Mr. Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s letter in July 2010. However, as this is the founding general
assembly and the requirement for two months of prior notification before the general assembly had
better be waivered. If there is any other city that wishes to be elected as the president of the
Organization, it may declare and register its candidacy now. So I would like to open the floor for
registering candidacy for presidency for all members.
I think everybody agrees to the presidency of Seoul for this new organization. Maybe Seoul has been
responsible for preparing all the forum for last three years and now hosting this inaugural general
assembly. With no further candidacy I think we reached the unanimous decision to elect Seoul as the
president city of the inaugural general assembly of the world e-governments organization. Thank you.
11:03-11:05 Agenda 3.Appointment of Vice President Cities
Now Seoul is elected as the president city of the organization. According to article 11 of the statute,
mayor of Seoul, Mr. Oh Se-hoon, will assume the position of the president of the organization for the
next two years. Now he will proceed with appointing the Executive Vice President city and Vice
President cities according to the statute. President, please.
Acting President of WeGO: Vice president Cities will support President City to strengthen the
networks of regions where each city belongs. I expect that the cities recommended as the vice
president cities during the preparatory executive committee meeting held in June, 2010 will play
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important roles for the future of WeGO as they have actively participated in the past forums and
meetings designed to inaugurate WeGO. So I appoint Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Nairobi, Paris,
Sao Paulo, and San Francisco as Vice President Cities of WeGO. Barcelona, in particular, will assume
the position of Executive Vice President city as it has made significant contributions to the
inauguration of WeGO for the last three years since 2008.
Mr. Il-soo Kim, Acting Secretary General: Thank you, Mr. President. All the cities that
belong to the presidency, would you please stand up? And ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm
rounds of applauds to congratulate the cities in presidency for their assuming the positions.
11:05-11:11 Speeches by President and Executive Vice President
Now, shall I hear some words from a newly-elected president and the executive vice president?
President: I thank you all for your kind support. It is my great pleasure that the city of Seoul has
become the founding president city of World e-Governments Organization. Seoul and vice president
cities will do our best to lay a foundation for sustainable development of WeGO until the next
assembly in two years. The Seoul Metropolitan Government hereby pledges that it will fulfill its
duties as the president city so that all member cities of WeGO can benefit from their participation in
this organization.
The city of Seoul will always be open to the opinions of the member cities and will take leadership in
coordinating any differences between members.
Also, we will work hard to establish a network for cities for cooperation and exchanges between
members while devising action plans that can be a practical help in developing e-government in our
member cities. The city of Seoul is committed to providing strong support for WeGO which will
include financial aid for running the organization using Seoul’s budget until the next assembly
convenes in 2012.
Once again, I extend my gratitude to all city representatives for your support for Seoul and the vice
president cities. I humbly ask all of you to join the efforts for the development of WeGO. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President. Then let’s hear some words from Executive Vice President from city of
Barcelona.
Executive Vice President:
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Dear mayor of Seoul Mr. Oh Se-hoon,
Dear mayors and city representatives,
It is an honour for me to accept this position on behalf of the mayor of Barcelona and the city as a
whole. When I was listening to the drums a few minutes ago, I had a feeling of having two ideas--
passion and harmony. I think these two concepts are what the mayor expressed – the duty we have to
carry on on the next years. That’s the feeling and that’s the devotion and passion and enthusiasm that
Barcelona wants to look at. Cities are playing key roles in international scenario. Now 50% of the
world population live in cities and urban areas. This projection obviously raises questions about the
abilities of cities to sustain its growth rate while maintaining adequate levels of prediction and
delivery of key public services.
Cities are becoming global players, attracter of foreign investment, competitiveness hoops, and
platforms for the combination of the local and international components. The move to e-government
and the network with the cities is the key element to overcome these challenges. We believe firmly
that the local authorities must find a space where they can make their voice be heard vis-à-vis with
national government and international institutions and a place to flourish collaboration among cities
around the world. We believe in citizens, not in clients, not only hosting several worldwide city
networks has a way of a start but because it is part of our KBM(Knowledge-based management) and
because using network is increasing efficiency in the public administration and improved public
services are increasing citizens’ quality of life and business competitiveness and citizens’ daily life
commitment: from infrastructure networks, water, electricity, gas, center heating to
telecommunication networks, municipal centers’ networks, traffic lights but also civil servants are
networked. For social services, police, inspectors and citizens through social networks, elderly people,
unemployed people, innovators, and citizens in general – that’s what WeGO should do and must be.
So thanks for your support and I hope we will work together. Gamsahapnida.
11:11-11:18 Agenda 4. Election of Executive Committee Members
Mr. Il-soo Kim, Acting Secretary General: Thank you very much, Mr. Executive Vice
President. So now, the next item on the agenda is organization of the Executive Committee. As you
know, the executive committee is responsible for developing projects and ensuring smooth operation
of the organization as a sort of standing committee of the organization. According to Article 12, the
Executive Committee is to be organized with 15 or less members including president and vice
president cities. We have one president and seven vice president cities and they will become members
of the executive committee in accordance with Article 12. Now we have two options concerning the
formation of the executive committee. We may either proceed with rounding up the formation of the
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executive committee by 8 member cities which belong to presidency or else we open the floor and
may elect not more than 7 cities as members of the executive committee as is provided in the statute. I
think there are quite a few cities interested in serving as the members of the executive committee. So
you may register your candidacy now.
Two cities of Khartoum and Suva registered their candidacy to become members of the executive
committee. No further candidacy for the executive committee?
Addis Ababa
City of Edmonton
Dakar City
So seven cities that registered for candidacy…
Baku, Azerbaijan also registered for the candidacy? Would anyone please confirm the candidacy of
Baku?
Okay, we have now seven candidacies for the members of executive committee. They are Suva, Fiji;