The Gauteng MEC for Economic Development, Environment, Agriculture and Rural Development, Parks Tau will on 23 February 2021 take part in  the 2021 World Bank Group Urban, Resilience and Land (URL) Global Practice Forum. The virtual forum will bring together leading policymakers, practitioners, and academic thought leaders for a moderated discussion on how the future of work and changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic may impact on the future of cities.

The forum will explore the main trends that are re-shaping work, their possible implications for cities, the appropriate policies required, and the balance of both public and private sector roles in implementing inclusive and forward-looking solutions for a more sustainable urbanisation process.

Bringing together diverse voices, this dialogue will discuss both the new and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, big data, robotics that are re-shaping the nature of work and debate their possible implications for the future of cities and the livelihoods of those who dwell in them.

The Gauteng government will continue supporting SMMEs to benefit from ICT infrastructure. Significant fiscal interventions have been implemented by the Gauteng government in recent years such as smart schools, free wi-fi in metro’s, fabrication labs, robotics, technologies of Cloud computing, internet, biotechnology, among others.

The World Bank virtual plenary will take place as follows:

Date:   Tuesday, 23 February 2021

Time:   14:45 RSA Time

The media is invited to join the forum through this link - https://youtu.be/ySuoJ_afu3I

For more details and media enquiries, please contact:

Loyiso Jantjies

Media Liaison Officer: Office of the MEC

Cell: 071 258 9665

Email: Loyiso.jantjies@gauteng.gov.za

Follow us on Twitter: @GautengDED @TauParks

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Issued by the Gauteng Department of Economic Development: www.gauteng.gov.za