By IANS,
Dubai : Two booming Asian cities, Dubai and Shanghai, are going to strengthen mutual cooperation and expand bilateral ties in the field of municipal work in pursuance of a twinning agreement signed in 2000.
At a meeting between Hussain Nasser Lootah, acting director general of Dubai Municipality, and 14-member visiting Chinese delegation led by Shanghai mayor Han Zheng here, the two sides explored various areas of cooperation, the state-run Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
Lootah praised the Chinese government and people and for the outstanding success of Beijing Olympics and noted that this showed the technical and administrative skills of the Chinese people.
He briefed the Shanghai delegation on Dubai Municipality’s major tasks such as urban planning, supervision of activities in the city, undertaking landscaping and city beautification projects, environment conservation, providing adequate drainage and irrigation network, overseeing public health and safety, and food control, among other things.
“One of our recent accomplishments is in the field of e-governance as we have transferred more than 90 percent of civic services to e-services and we are aiming for zero visits of customers to the municipal offices, which we hope will be accomplished very soon,” Lootah said.
On his part, Zheng said that his city was keen to further expanding its existing ties with Dubai in all fields, with particular focus on trade.
He also invited Dubai Municipality officials to visit the Shanghai World Exposition 2010 to be held from May 1-Oct 31, 2010, focusing on the theme ‘Better City, Better Life’.
The exhibition is expected to attract 70 million visitors from home and abroad.