The Consulate-General of Japan in Jeddah, in cooperation with Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) and Japan Cooperation Center for the Middle East (JCCME), organized a seminar on smart spaces and smart cities entitled “New Vision for the Cities of Tomorrow” on Feb. 8. The seminar held at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce was attended by Jeddah municipality officials, Saudi officials, Consul-Generals, businessmen, representatives of Saudi companies, academics, media people, university professors and interested people. Aniket Patange, Head of Artificial Intelligence & Innovation at Hitachi, Ltd., Middle East Branch, and Ahmed Abubasha, Head of Sales & Marketing Grid Automation at Hitachi Energy Ltd respectively deliver speeches in which they explained how smart cities can enhance the safety and security, improve efficiency of municipal services and promote a better quality of life for residents in addition to its great and pivotal role to reducing gas emissions to achieve carbon neutrality through using of eco-friendly materials. The lecture was followed by active exchange of questions and answers session between the two lecturers and audience.  Moammar Al-Atawi, Chairman of the Urban Development Council at JCCI said in his opening remark that he welcomes the audience and praised the cooperation between JCCI and the Consulate-General of Japan in Jeddah, stressing the Chamber’s keenness on permanent and continuous cooperation with the Consulate-General and JCCME. He hails Japanese experiences in smart cities technologies. Muto Koji, Chief Representative of JCCME Saudi Arabia Office referred in his remarks to the historic relations between JCCI and JCCME since 2005, when JCCME office was established inside the Chamber. He confirmed JCCME’s readiness to provide any possible assistant to create new partnerships. Izuru Shimmura, Consul General of Japan in Jeddah, said in his welcome remark that Jeddah is witnessing huge development movement and this seminar which comes within the framework of “Saudi-Japanese Vision 2030” represents a good opportunity for governmental officials, Saudi public and private companies, young Saudi engineers, students and other interested people to learn about the latest Japanese technologies. He also expressed his wish that seminar will contribute to building new cooperation relations between both public and private sectors of the two friendly countries and that Saudi Arabia achieve further prosperity and development under its leadership. This article was originally published on Arab News Japan .