The 15th International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum (IIICF) kicked off in Macao Thursday, with industry leaders stressing the importance of digitalization and innovation in building more sustainable and interconnected global infrastructure.
Over 3,500 industry representatives from more than 70 countries and regions attended the event titled "Green Innovative Digital Connectivity."
China's Vice Minister of Commerce, Guo Tingting, pledged her ministry's commitment to green infrastructure development through policy dialogues and practical cooperation in areas such as green energy, transportation, and finance.
Meanwhile, the exhibition area of this year's forum has been expanded by 60 percent compared to the previous editions, showcasing projects of global infrastructure connectivity.
Praising the forum's collaborative approach, Uzbekistan's Minister of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change, Aziz Abdukhakimov, emphasized the value of uniting policymakers, companies, and government representatives to explore new avenues for economic development.
Wang Bin, president of China's Power Construction Corporation, underscored the growing importance of green innovation and digitalization within the infrastructure industry.
Fang Qiuchen, chairman of the China International Contractors Association, noted the forum's broader impact, extending to China's Belt and Road Initiative.
"The most important and prioritized area of the Belt and Road Initiative is infrastructure connectivity. The annual IIICF in Macao also focuses on international infrastructure cooperation. Now we are building it into an important international cooperation platform serving the Belt and Road Initiative, especially infrastructure connectivity. I believe that the Belt and Road Initiative will achieve solid progress in the future," he said.
The forum, co-organized by the China International Contractors Association and the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute, will conclude on Friday.
Macao forum highlights digitalization, innovation in global infrastructure projects
China officially delivered a custom-made AI-driven meteorological early warning system, MAZU-Nepal, to Nepal on Tuesday on the sidelines of the ongoing Second China-Central Asia Meteorological Cooperation Forum held in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
MAZU, which stands for "multi-hazard, alert, zero-gap, and universal," is an intelligent meteorological early warning system developed in China that integrates artificial intelligence with physical forecasting models. It is named after the Chinese guardian goddess of the sea.
"The customized system represents a deeply-localized adaptation tailored to Nepal's unique geographic environment and disaster-response needs. Nepal's complex terrain, with large elevation differences across the Himalayas, crisscrossing river valleys, and constrained transportation and communications, places very high demands on meteorological monitoring and early warning," said Dai Kan, deputy director general of China's National Meteorological Center .
"With this deeply-customized version, we can achieve a resolution of one kilometer within Nepal, covering basic elements such as precipitation, temperature, wind and humidity. Our forecasting team and Nepal's experts are able to monitor conditions in real time," Dai continued.
Since the devastating mudslide disaster occurred on Aug 26, China has provided Nepal with weather monitoring, forecasting, early warning and impact-based services, including a version of MAZU for trial use in Nepal.
"So we've found it very productive and a very important tool for us, as it has observation feature. We have the high-resolution satellite image there and in nowcasting, we have the nowcasting -- what will be the weather for the next few hours -- so all the things are included in this platform. And along with this, we have AI-derived weather forecasting, including the ensemble of multiple modal output there, so we can tally the product from the different models at the single frame. So it was very helpful for us, and we hope we can utilize it more effectively, more efficiently in future as well," said Sanjib Adhikari, a meteorologist at the Nepal Meteorology Department.
MAZU has been applied in seven countries and is currently being trialed on the cloud in more than 50 countries.
China announced earlier this year that it will work to deploy the MAZU platform in more countries that need it over the coming years.
At the same event, the China Meteorological Administration unveiled a plan for implementing the MAZU system in Central Asian countries for 2026-2027, aiming to deepen meteorological cooperation between China and Central Asian countries, jointly enhance regional disaster prevention and mitigation capacity, and better serve regional economic and social development.
The Second China-Central Asia Meteorological Cooperation Forum was held from Tuesday to Wednesday in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
China delivers custom-made AI-driven meteorological early warning system to Nepal
