[Chicago, 27 April] -- The Executive Bureau of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) met in Chicago, USA, on 26 and 27 April 2010, on the occasion of the Daley Global Cities Forum. The Executive Bureau took place in the presence of UCLG President, Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris. This event also saw the meeting of the Mayor of Paris with Rahm Emmanuel, President Obama’s Chief of Staff.
More than 200 local and regional government representatives from five continents gathered in Chicago for the UCLG Executive Bureau. The participants focussed in particular on the creation of a taskforce to coordinate aid for the establishment of local governments in Haiti and reiterated the appeals made on behalf of UCLG by Mayor of Montreal, Gérald Tremblay, on the occasion of the UN Donors’ Conference on 31 March.
The Executive Bureau set the strategy for local and regional authorities with regard to the preparation of the United Nations General Assembly on the revision of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and to the Climate Change Summit to be held later this year in Cancun, Mexico. Positions on Urban Strategic Planning and the Agenda 21 for Culture were also debated and adopted during the course of the meetings.
In the case of the United Nations General Assembly Progress Review of the Millennium Development Goals, UCLG and its members shall advocate before the national governments that local government actions are taken into account and that a UCLG delegation is present at the Review. UCLG members will then further insist before the international community for the recognition of strong local governance as an accelerator for development.
Participants to the Mayors Round Tables have further called against the trade and use of guns which are a true risk in our cities.
During these meetings, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, Mayor of Mexico City, presented the III UCLG Congress of UCLG and the I Global Summit of Local and Regional Leaders, which will be hosted by his city from 17 to 20 November 2010.
The UCLG Executive Bureau coincided with the Daley Global Cities Forum, in which Rahm Emmanuel, Chief of Staff to President Obama, gave an address on the subject of stimulation and innovation in local finance, during a difficult economic situation.
The meetings in Chicago took place at a moment when the Obama administration is dedicating attention to the problems of cities and a draft law, the ‘Sustainable Urban Development Act’ is currently under examination.
Bertrand Delanoë, declared that “in a world where half the population lives and works in cities, most global challenges will need local solutions. We are particularly happy to join our colleague and friend Mayor Daley in his city to ensure that the lessons we have learned are properly shared and to promote together new solutions for a sustainable future.”
The Mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley went on to declare “By coming together, sharing innovative ideas and unleashing our entrepreneurial spirit and imagination, cities can help lead our nations to a healthy economic recovery. During good economic times and bad, cities have always been on the front line of innovative thinking. Now, because of the worldwide economic recession, cities are reinventing themselves and their economies with new ideas to help create jobs for both now and in the future."
About UCLG. Founded in May 2004, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is the united voice and world advocate of democratic local self-government. Based in Barcelona, UCLG is the largest local government organization in the world. Representing over half the world’s population, the cities and association members of UCLG are present in 136 UN Member States across seven world regions – Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Eurasia, Middle East and West Asia, Latin America and North America. Over 1000 cities are direct members of United Cities and Local Governments, as well as 112 national associations which represent all the cities and local governments in a single country.
Contact:
Thibaut NANCY, t.nancy@cities-localgovernments.org
+ 34 93 342 87 50
www.cities-localgovernments.org
