Officials from major cities tied to summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization stressed heightened collaboration in connectivity, digitalization and people-to-people exchanges on Tuesday, positioning urban cooperation as a pillar for regional integration ahead of the grouping's Tianjin summit.

Senior city officials, media representatives and think tank leaders who convened in Tianjin for the Global Mayors Dialogue · SCO Summit Cities event underscored the strategic role of cities in building a closer SCO community with a shared future.

Tianjin will host the summit in autumn, marking the fifth time that China has hosted the landmark event since the group's founding in 2001.

Wang Xu, executive vice-mayor of Tianjin, stressed the readiness of the municipality to step up cooperation with cities that have hosted SCO summits to advance integrated development, strengthen city governance, and work together to push forward the Belt and Road Initiative.

He called for shared efforts to deepen industrial cooperation, strengthen trade and economic ties, and jointly build smart and well-managed cities, adding that Tianjin is ready to share its experience in urban governance with SCO summit cities.

"Let us work together to build smart, well-managed cities. By advancing 'city brain' infrastructure and embracing cutting-edge technologies such as big data, cloud computing and AI, we can enable smarter governance, predictive systems and integrated services," he said.

Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, said that major SCO cities, as key hubs for economic growth and international engagement, should deepen collaboration to tackle shared challenges and help build a closer SCO community with a shared future.

"The most solid foundation of the SCO lies in mutual learning among civilizations, and its deepest strength comes from people-to-people ties," he said.

Qu called upon SCO cities to embrace openness, inclusiveness, mutual respect and trust, and to remain grounded in people-to-people exchanges to sustain millennia-old connections and bring the "Shanghai Spirit" to life through tangible, city-level initiatives.

Shen Lei, head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Tianjin Municipal Committee, said that the city looks forward to using the event as an opportunity to deepen opening-up, enhance cross-border cooperation and unlock new opportunities for mutual benefit and shared development.

She emphasized efforts to build a broad platform for connectivity, enhance both hard connectivity in infrastructure and soft connectivity in resources, and improve the modern shipping and logistics system.

Tianjin has already established sister-city ties with 103 cities in 54 countries — 20 of them in SCO member states — and its partnerships are already bearing fruit.

Furthermore, urban planning experts from Tianjin are contributing to the development of Asman, a newly planned city in Kyrgyzstan. In May, the first China-Europe freight train linking Tianjin directly to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, began operation.

Aibek Dzhunushaliev, mayor of Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, said the city is looking to expand cooperation with SCO cities through joint initiatives in areas such as transportation, green energy, culture and tourism.

"We believe that dialogue between cities forms the foundation of people-to-people diplomacy and is key to sustainable development," he said.

He added that "stronger ties between capitals and major metropolitan areas can help secure long-term peace and prosperity".

Alexander Beglov, governor of St. Petersburg, Russia, said in a speech delivered via video link that the complementary nature of the economies of SCO cities and St. Petersburg creates strong prospects for industrial cooperation and mutual investment.

He highlighted the significance of building a digital SCO platform and a unified ecosystem of SCO cities through the adoption of technologies such as AI, big data and automation to foster smart city development.

Cui Li, vice-chairperson of the Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation Commission of the SCO, said that to mark the SCO Year of Sustainable Development this year, SCO cities should strengthen the sharing of experience and jointly advance the construction of eco-friendly, livable, smart and sustainable cities.

The commission will promote the establishment of more sister-city relationships among SCO countries to enable sharing and learning from experiences in urban development, she said.

Shri Janesh Kain, deputy secretary-general of the SCO Secretariat, said cities that host SCO summits stand as "symbols of openness, inclusiveness and mutual learning among civilizations".

"We firmly believe that urban cooperation will serve as a powerful driver in areas such as environmental protection, digital transformation, transportation links, cultural tourism and urban planning," he said. "The sharing of best practices and innovative solutions will undoubtedly benefit hundreds of millions of people."