Indian Cities Progress Global Cooperation under IURC: PCMC and Gangtok Forge International Partnerships

Following their active participation at the Smart City Expo World Congress 2025 in Barcelona and continued city-to-city engagement under the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and Gangtok Municipal Corporation have strengthened international collaboration to advance sustainable, inclusive, and innovation-driven urban development.

As part of their international engagement, PCMC deepened dialogue with representatives from the City of Leuven (Belgium) during a high-level visit to Pune in December 2025. The visit focused on cooperation opportunities in active mobility, industrial innovation, sustainability governance, and urban transformation. Senior officials from PCMC and Leuven exchanged insights on boosting active mobility infrastructure, fostering behavioural change for low-carbon transport, and enhancing innovation ecosystems through joint learning and knowledge exchange.

Meanwhile, the City of Gangtok formalised partnerships with four international cities across Europe, Southeast Asia, and East Asia at the Smart City Expo World Congress. These strategic engagements aim to co-develop solutions tailored for mountain and ecologically sensitive cities, focusing on climate resilience, smart infrastructure, digital governance, and responsible tourism. Discussions also explored how data-driven planning and collaborative innovation can guide Gangtok’s next phase of sustainable urban growth.

These exchanges build on the momentum created by the IURC cooperation cycle and reinforce the commitment of Indian pilot cities to international city-to-city collaboration. Both PCMC and Gangtok are leveraging global partnerships to translate international best practices into locally relevant actions that support climate action, inclusive urbanization, and innovation-led growth.

The IURC programme continues to support structured cooperation between Indian and European cities, enhancing city capacities to address shared challenges including mobility, sustainability, digital transformation, and socio-economic inclusion.

Indian Express (9 Jan 2026)
Punekar News 1 (12 Nov 2025)
Punekar News 2 (5 Dec 2025)

Press coverage on Gangtok

Sikkim Express (11 Nov 2025):

About IURC:
The International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme is funded by the European Union and fosters decentralised international cooperation between cities and regions worldwide. It supports knowledge exchange, pilot action design and co-creation of sustainable urban solutions across thematic areas such as climate adaptation, innovation ecosystems and inclusive urban development.