In the afternoon of April 12, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, the UN Under-Secretary-General and the executive secretary of ESCAP and Dr. Mia Mikic, the head of the Department of Trade, Investment and Innovation of ESCAP, started a three-day visit to Shenzhen. This was the first visit of Dr. Shamshad Akhtar to Shenzhen. Sun Tianlu, the member of ARTNeT of UN ESCAP, the Chairwoman of Statistical Society for Foreign Economic Relations and Trade of Shenzhen and the Vice Chairwoman and Secretary General of the Alliance, welcomed them. Dr. Shamshad Akhtar wished to strengthen the collaboration between the secretariat of the ESCAP and the entities in Shenzhen, investigate the economic development of Shenzhen and have a detailed understanding of the development pattern and successful experience of Shenzhen in science and technology innovation. 

In the morning of April 13, accompanied by the Chairwoman Sun Tianlu, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar first came to a national high-end think tank, China Development Institute. The Executive Vice Chairman Guo Wanda of the Institute warmly welcomed the guests, and made high-level exchange with the guests on the subject of the Belt and Road. The Executive Vice Chairman Guo Wanda mainly introduced the research achievements of the Institute in promoting the construction of the Belt and Road. Dr. Shamshad Akhtar appraised that "the Belt and Road" initiative was a global initiative, and it could be effectively combined with UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. She expressed that the Belt and Road should pay attention to the infrastructure construction capacity, labor technology level, financing capacity and solvency etc. of the partners. The hosts and the guests agreed that the think tank could cooperate with international organizations in the fields of trade, investment, energy, transportation and technological innovation.

(Picture: group photograph)

Later, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar visited Shenzhen Bay Eco-Technology Park and Shenzhen Bay Innovation Park. The General Manager Wen Li of Shenzhen Bay Technology Development Co., Ltd. accompanied her. Dr. Shamshad Akhtar mainly learned about the development of Shenzhen Bay Eco-Technology Park and the scales of the enterprises in the Eco-Technology Park, she carefully watched the buildings and innovative products in the Eco-Technology Park, she carefully watched the high-tech products displayed in the Intellectual Property Protection Center in the Innovation Park, and she finally highly appraised the innovation service environment in Shenzhen Bay Innovation Park.

(Picture: group photograph)

In the afternoon, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar and his party visited Shenzhen's high-tech enterprises DJI-Innovations and Tencent. In DJI-Innovations, the President Luo Zhenhua received Dr. Shamshad Akhtar and introduced the technical advantages of the company in UAVs. In Tencent, the General Manager of the Department of Public Strategy Research Si Xiao received Dr. Shamshad Akhtar and introduced the innovation and development models of the company in the Internet.

(Picture: watching the UAV flight test in DJI-Innovations)

(Picture: group photograph)

At the noon of April 13, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar and her party sprightly visited the highest building in Shenzhen, Ping An Finance Centre. The Chief Executive Officer and Chief Information Officer of the Ping An Group Miss Chen Xinying accompanied the guests, and introduced Ping An Group, Ping An Finance Centre and the building construction for Dr. Shamshad Akhtar and Dr. Mia Mikic.

(The guests is visiting the sightseeing floor, the top floor of Ping An Finance Centre)

On the evening, the Vice Mayor of Shenzhen Municipal Government Mr. Gao Zimin hosted a banquet to welcome Dr. Shamshad Akhtar and his party. The hosts and the guests made extensive and in-depth exchange on strengthening cooperation. During the exchange, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar introduced that, in 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, ESCAP clearly pointed out that trade, investment and technological innovation were the key factors and means to realize this grand agenda, and the member countries of ESCAP repeated the importance of these factors during the Fifth Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development ended lately and urged the stakeholders to strengthen the regional cooperation between the stakeholders and share their successful experience and best practices so as to deal with the challenges of sustainable development in these three areas. She hoped that Shenzhen would introduce more successful experience to other countries in the region. Mr. Gao Zimin introduced that, as a pioneer city of China in reform and opening-up, Shenzhen insisted on taking innovation as the first driving force of development, strengthened the coordination of the factors of industry, research, development, market, capital and talent etc., implemented the integrated and innovative plan of ecological optimization, and adhered to the construction of Shenzhen into an innovative city with more international competitiveness. The hosts and the guests also discussed the policy and measures for the construction of the Belt and Road.

(Picture: Mr. Gao Zimin, the Vice Mayor of Shenzhen Municipal Government, is meeting UN Under-Secretary-General Dr. Shamshad Akhtar)

(Picture: Group photograph)

In the early morning of April 14, Chairwoman Sun Tianlu organized a breakfast meeting, with a special invitation to the representatives of the Society and Alliance members BYD, Shenzhen Transsion Holdings Limited, and Shenzhen Energy and other well-known enterprises, as well as Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, to conduct in-depth exchanges. 

(Picture: the breakfast meeting) 

After the breakfast meeting, accompanied by Chairwoman Sun Tianlu, the Under-Secretary-General and her party visited Huawei, a well-known enterprise in Shenzhen, and Mr. Simon Lacey, the vice president of Huawei for global government affairs, received and introduced the experience and achievements of Huawei in scientific and technological innovation. She appreciated the great investment of Huawei in the research and development of science and technology. 

Subsequently, the Under-Secretary-General and her party arrived at the Salcomp PLC and visited the automation workshop and the innovation laboratory of Salcomp very interestedly. In the past 30 years in Shenzhen, Salcomp has been devoted to providing product accessories R&D and production services for the world's top brands, such as Apple and Huawei, with annual sales of over CNY 3 billion. 

(Picture: group photograph) 

(Picture: visiting Salcomp) 

At noon, Akhtar and her party concluded their visit and left Shenzhen. Before her departure, Dr. Akhtar said the visit was very successful. Shenzhen impressed her. Besides, she was grateful to the Society and the Alliance. She hoped that the Society and the Alliance could organize the enterprises to present the needs through ESCAP to the government level in the form of economic community, and they would combine the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goal Plan of the United Nations to help the enterprises to promote sustainable new economic development globally. President Sun Tianlu of the Society received willingly the hope and suggestions of Dr. Akhtar and expressed her blessing to Dr. Akhtar, looking forward to her visit to Shenzhen again. 

(Picture: the letter from Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP)