Dr. Sharma had telephonic conversations with Chief Executive Officers (Mrs. Anandita Mishra (IAS) and Mr. Rishabh Gupta (IAS) of Chandigarh and Indore cities respectively and requested them to appoint a team for sharing the experience and success stories of their smart city projects with Addis Ababa city stakeholders
INVC NEWS
New Delhi ,
It is a beautiful beginning that we jointly shared the Experiences for Smart City initiatives. Smart city professionals of two countries; India and Ethiopia realized the power of experiential learning and experimental caring for professional developments.
The East African country Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa is in the process of transforming into a Smart City. Addis Ababa is a well-known city for the Head Office of the African Union, United Nations Economic Commission (UNECA), and several Embassies of the world countries. Surrounded by hills and mountains situated 2355 meters above sea level, Addis Ababa is amongst few capitals across the globe which is trying to begin its journey towards its beautification and cleanliness. During the inauguration of the online workshop over Zoom, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University’s Vice President and Smart City Adviser Dr. Abraham Debebe mentioned that this project is now undertaken by Addis Ababa Science and Technology University in collaboration with the Addis Ababa Vocational Training and Technology Development Bureau.
Addressing the workshop, Dr. Tulu Tilahun, the Manager of this project shared the main goals and the proposed activities of the project. Dr. Tulu further stated that when he meet Dr. DP Sharma through a digital platform, he got to know the association of Dr. Sharma with Indian Smart Cities and Swachh Bharat Mission. Dr. Sharma mentioned that a couple of years ago, the Indian Prime Minister launched a few mega-projects on CLEAN & SMART CITY PROJECTS for 100 cities. The discussion held between Dr. Sharma and Dr. Tulu prompted an international experience sharing workshop.
Later, Dr. Sharma had telephonic conversations with Chief Executive Officers (Mrs. Anandita Mishra (IAS) and Mr. Rishabh Gupta (IAS) of Chandigarh and Indore cities respectively and requested them to appoint a team for sharing the experience and success stories of their smart city projects with Addis Ababa city stakeholders
During the online workshop, the Project Director of Chandigarh’s smart city Mr. Arun Kumar Singh, and Project Manager Gagan Deep Singh along with Indore smart city manager Mr. Saurabh Maheshwari gave detailed presentations and visuals of smart cities. They described the cleanliness, rejuvenation of heritage monuments, restoration, and conservation techniques smart parking, smart roads, good sewerage planning, clean and green energy, installation of solar energy in schools, garbage cleaning in slum areas, and using it for biogas. They explained that they also work for the gobar (cow dunk) gas project.
The detailed presentations and experience-sharing sessions of the Chandigarh and Indore model smart city project officers were appreciated by the officials and stakeholders of Addis Ababa city. The Chandigarh team presented the journey from Chandigarh’s historical heritage of Flower City to the technology-enabled smart city in detail. Several guests were present in this international online workshop where Addis Ababa city administration TVT and Technology Development Bureau officer Dr. Muluken Habtu delivered the vote of thanks with appreciation to conduct such workshops in the future as well. Dr. Muluken expressed his thanks to Dr. Tulu and Swachh Bharat Mission Ambassador Dr. DP Sharma for the initiative and successful coordination of the program organized by the cities of the two nations for mutual cooperation. The stakeholders and officials from Addis Ababa felt grateful for such an online program and they look forward to organizing more collaborative events in the future as well.
In his opening keynote remark, Ambassador for Swachh Bharat Mission, Digital Diplomat, and Computer Scientist Dr. DP Sharma addressed the officials of both the nations and shared India’s bilateral diplomatic relationship and said when India’s President Ram Nath Kovind visited Addis Ababa city and he also met with him during his visit. Dr. Sharma also shared that he read in the newspaper about the Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi having a telephonic conversation with Nobel Peace Prize winner Ethiopian Prime Minister M Dr. Abiy Ahmed during the Corona pandemic for mutual cooperation and vaccination support. This indicates the friendship strength of two countries and their professionals’ to work for mutual professionals, our close friendly relations amongst professionals, and their mutual cooperation commitments. Dr. Sharma responded to the question of the participants that the mega-project vision of India’s Prime Minister is to transform 100 cities into smart cities. The workshop was concluded with a vote of thanks of Dr. Muluken and anchor Mrs. Eleni T.