Visakhapatnam: The ‘City of Destiny’ is fast developing as a venue for hosting international conferences, the latest being the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) meet on urbanisation from September 14 to 16. The BRICS meet would focus on important issues such as the policies followed by other countries in respect of urbanisation, investment and developing new urban townships, said chief secretary SP Tucker during a review meeting held at the Collectorate on Wednesday.
Joint secretaries from the Union urban development ministry, Alok A Dimitri and B Anand, also participated in the review meeting.
The conference would concentrate on finding solutions to key issues of urbanisation and provision of infrastructure facilities, housing and livelihood would be the agenda for the conference, according to B Anand.
On the last day of the three-day meet, the ‘Visakha Declaration’ would be issued and this would be the base for the next BRICS conference to be held in Goa from October 15 to 17.
It was the desire of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold international conferences in cities other than the national capital, he added.
More than 400 delegates would participate in the meet from different parts of the country along with above 100 members of BRICS countries and representatives of international banks.
Development of smart cities by making use of latest technologies are being followed by BRICS countries and issues concerning such development models would be discussed at the proposed conference, said Alok A Dimitri. It would be good opportunity for Andhra Pradesh to showcase its development to the delegates, he added.
District collector N Yuvaraj said arrangements would be made for the conference. Senior officials from Delhi, who attended the preview meeting, had appreciated the cleanliness and maintenance of roads, hygiene in the city and said Visakhapatnam would be a model on how cities are maintained in India.