Xi'an: Mayors and government officials representing seven countries shared insights on digitalization and efficiency in modern city governance at the recently concluded 2026 Global Mayors Dialogue in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, according to Chinadaily. The participants from Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman, Iraq, Tunisia, and New Zealand learned about Xi'an's experience through an on-site visit during the three-day event that ended on Wednesday.
According to Azerbaijan State News Agency, at the 12345 citizen service hotline center, participants learned about the round-the-clock model for receiving consultations, complaints, reports, assistance requests, and suggestions from the public, and providing rapid responses through coordination among multiple government departments. In 2025, the hotline received about 5.8 million requests, with a case completion rate of 99.8 percent and a public satisfaction rate of 97.5 percent, according to local authorities.
Elmoula Abdelbaki, director of municipal affairs of Tozeur Governorate in Tunisia, noted the hotline features rapid response, quality service, and high efficiency. He highlighted its embodiment of a people-centered governance philosophy and its success as a model for urban public services and grassroots governance. Abdelbaki expressed hopes to introduce the model in Tunisia to improve civil services and enhance cooperation with China in grassroots governance.
At the Xi'an traffic command hall, real-time road network data, traffic signal status, congestion points, and police patrol trajectories were displayed on a giant screen, showcasing the city's smart governance system. Elsawy Abdelrahem, a professor of philosophy at Benha University in Egypt and a coordinator for Egyptian-Chinese relations, praised Xi'an's smart mobility system for its achievements in traffic congestion relief, emergency rescue, and public convenience services. He emphasized the strong expectation for deeper cooperation with China in smart transportation due to the urgent demand for urban traffic development in Arab countries.
Participants exchanged ideas on digital-enabled governance, technology-driven improvements in livelihoods, and precise, efficient public services. Goran Rasheed Muhamad, director of the foreign affairs office of the provincial government of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq, discussed leveraging digital technologies to monitor road conditions and advance transportation development. He highlighted the streamlining of urban transactions through various e-wallet services, enabling residents to access government services and pay official bills online. Muhamad noted the rising number of motor vehicles and the increasing pressure on traffic management, expressing the need to draw on advanced experience to empower urban construction and enhance citizens' happiness and satisfaction.
Xiao Qi, vice-mayor of Xi'an, described the city's smart governance model featuring full-domain perception, intelligent early warning, and efficient data application. She explained that technology-driven urban transformation is advancing across Xi'an, with intelligent devices on patrol vehicles enabling AI visual recognition to detect road surface defects at the millimeter level. Digital sensors on urban bridges monitor structural health, while streetlights automatically adjust brightness according to traffic flow at night, providing illumination and saving energy.
Shady Yehia Elmashad, deputy governor of Beheira in Egypt, remarked on digitalization as a tool for increasing resource efficiency and reducing waste. He stressed that digital transformation is not merely technological luxury but the fastest path to achieving sustainable development.