Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian stated on the 31st that China is willing to work with all parties to promote the implementation of global development initiatives, deepen cooperation in the urban field, and create a better future for urban development. At the regular press conference that day, a reporter asked: October 31st is World Cities Day. The 2024 World Cities Day China home event will be held in Weihai, Shandong and Shanghai, with the theme of "Building People's Cities and Sharing a Better Life". Currently, global urban development still faces challenges such as resource scarcity, environmental pollution, and extreme weather conditions. How does the spokesperson evaluate China's achievements in urban sustainable development and its contributions to the world? Lin Jian said that World Cities Day is the first international day initiated by China and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, aiming to inherit and promote the concept of "Better City, Better Life" from the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, and provide an important platform for exploring cooperation to address various urban issues and promote the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It has received increasing support and response from more and more countries. Lin Jian stated that China is currently undergoing the world's largest and fastest urbanization process, and has achieved historic achievements in urban development and urbanization construction. In recent years, China has solidly promoted the people-oriented new urbanization, deepened the reform of urban construction, operation, and governance system, and accelerated the transformation of urban development mode. The urbanization rate of China's permanent population has reached 66.16%, with over 930 million people living in urban areas. Urban functions continue to improve, living environments have significantly improved, and the level of urban governance has significantly improved. In the latest Global City Index report, the ranking of Chinese cities has significantly increased, with three cities entering the top ten globally. Lin Jian said that while independently exploring the path of high-quality urban development, China also actively shares its experience in urban development and cooperates with multiple countries and regions in the fields of smart transportation, building energy conservation, green and low-carbon, providing Chinese wisdom for the sustainable development of global cities. "We support UN Habitat to set up the Global Sustainable Development City Award (Shanghai Award), create a global urban monitoring framework - Shanghai Application Index and other public goods, and help countries improve urban governance efficiency and share the achievements of sustainable development." Lin Jian said that cities are the symbol of modern civilization, and it needs the joint efforts of all countries to light up the "lights" of urban development. China is willing to work with all parties to promote the implementation of global development initiatives, deepen cooperation in the urban field, and join hands to create a better future for urban development. (New Society)