Delegates from member cities of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) gathered in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province, on Friday, for a dialog to explore how cultural creativity can help drive sustainable urban and industrial development.
Running through Saturday, the event has brought together representatives from more than 10 cities across over 10 countries, including France and Spain.
Wuxi joined the network last October as "Creative City of Music." Jiangsu Province now has five cities included in the UCCN.
The network aims to promote cooperation among cities that identify creativity and culture for key factor of urban development.
"It's also a way for cities to demonstrate what they are doing in terms of strategies, in terms of initiatives, in terms of policies at a local level, how they can use culture and creativity to build more resilient, safe, inclusive, and culturally cities," said Denise Bax, secretary of the UCCN.
Representatives from other "Cities of Music" around the world shared their thoughts on how music could be further integrated into local development and international cooperation.
"A lot of students are from China in our conservatory, and I think that this is one of the first steps that we can connect with Wuxi. Then we are interested to learn the strategy of Wuxi and most of all in involving young generation in the music, creativity, and public policy about music and creativity," said Daniele Vimini, vice mayor of Italy's Pesaro.
Established in 2004, the UCCN aims to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development. So far, the network includes 408 cities from more than 100 countries.
Creative cities dialog opens in Wuxi
Issuing panda bonds in China allows Pakistan to tap the second largest, and the second deepest capital market in the world, said Pakistan's Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb in Beijing on Friday.
The issuance of the bonds on Friday, worth 1.75 billion yuan (about 255.79 million U.S. dollars), marked Pakistan's first such sovereign bond in the offshore capital markets aimed to support the development of sustainable and climate-resilient infrastructure across the water, energy and health sectors.
Talking to China Global Television Network (CGTN), Aurangzeb explained the significance of the panda bond program.
"This particular transaction really focuses on three key elements. One is from Pakistan's perspective, we have had financings in many forms and shapes with China. Today marks a very important event that we tap the second largest, and the second deepest capital market in the world. The second thing is, as I mentioned earlier, we will work with China and therefore it's a win-win in terms of the internationalization of RMB. The third one is that we are very grateful to all our partners in China, starting with regulators, and the Chinese authorities," said the minister.
He also expressed confidence in more future bilateral economic and financial cooperation within the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). "I think it's not only trade, but also the investment opportunity. Because as you know we have CPEC Phase I as a flagship of the BRI, which was almost entirely about infrastructure. CPEC Phase II is primarily business to business, and it's about monetization of that infrastructure. I think between the two countries, the priorities are quite aligned in terms of the key priorities that President Xi has put forward for the BRI. So all of this I think is moving in the right direction," said Aurangzeb.
Panda bonds refer to renminbi-denominated bonds issued by overseas entities in China. In recent years, the panda bond market has seen steady gains, becoming increasingly attractive to issuers.
According to data from the People's Bank of China, more than 170 billion yuan worth of panda bonds were issued by governments, international development institutions, financial firms and large corporations from multiple countries in 2025, with the outstanding volume rising 34 percent year on year.
Pakistani finance minister on issuing panda bonds in China
