
Mr. Chadchart Sittipunt, Governor of Bangkok, welcomed Dr. Takeharu Yamanaka, Mayor of Yokohama City, along with the Yokohama City Executive Committee, Japan, and representatives of the Japanese Embassy in Thailand on the occasion of their visit to BKK EXPO 2024 at the Benjakiti Forest Park Museum building, Khlong Toei District.
In this regard, the Governor of Bangkok and the Mayor of Yokohama participated in a special lecture at the centre stage at BKK EXPO 2024 on the topic of cooperation in sustainable development for a society with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. (City-to-City Cooperation towards Net Zero) (TBC)
The Governor of Bangkok welcomed the Mayor of Yokohama and the delegation, saying he was pleased to have the opportunity to welcome the Mayor of Yokohama on the occasion of his visit to Bangkok. He also expressed his honour that the Mayor attended BKK EXPO today.
BMA and Yokohama have maintained continuous cooperation for 11 years since 2013 through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on sustainable urban development. This includes technical and academic support to promote the development of a low-carbon society for Bangkok, continuously creating an environmentally friendly city. Additionally, the city of Yokohama plays an important role in implementing the City-to-City project: Collaboration for Zero-Carbon Society, a project supported by the Ministry of Environment, Japan, to support the implementation of the Bangkok Master Plan on Climate Change and promote activities to exchange knowledge and technology in reducing greenhouse gases with the private sector to achieve sustainable development. This includes the creation of the first Bangkok Energy Action Plan to concretely control carbon emissions in both the transportation and energy sectors.
“The world is currently facing unprecedented climate challenges. Many of you may have heard of the student rally in Oslo in 2019 where one student held a sign that read, 'You'll die of old age, but I'll die of climate change'. If we do not have clear guidelines or policies, in the end, we and the world cannot survive. Working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero is therefore one of the important goals of all of us to protect the lives of our children and grandchildren,” said the Bangkok Governor.
For his part, the Mayor of Yokohama said that he was honoured to have the opportunity to participate in this significant event that was packed with important content in shaping the city of Bangkok. The city of Yokohama has had long-term cooperation in environmental technology with BMA to make Bangkok a sustainable city.
Environmental problems cannot wait, and solving this problem requires the help and power of every citizen. Every person here will be key to successfully solving the environmental problem. It took Yokohama a decade to successfully reduce household waste, a result of cooperative efforts from all citizens. From now on, Yokohama City will cooperate more closely with BMA to develop closer and stronger relationships to solve problems in both countries and become leaders or representatives of the Asian region in addressing various world problems.
“Today I am glad to see a large number of students joining the activities because they will be an important and main force in helping solve various problems in the future. Therefore, we must ask for cooperation from all students in jointly solving environmental problems. Let's go together,” said the Mayor of Yokohama.




