Around 500 representatives of local and regional authorities, as well as their partners - international institutions and national ministries - gathered together in Guangzhou from 10 to 13 November2009 at the invitation of the Mayor of the City and UCLG Co-President, ZHANG Guangning, for the World Council and Executive Bureau meetings of the world organization of cities and regions.
The 30 meetings, which included sessions held by most of UCLG’s 18 Committees and Working Groups, were presided over by Bertrand DELANOE, Mayor of Paris, France, UCLG President, and UCLG Co-Presidents Amos MASONDO, Mayor of Johannesburg, South Africa and Kadir TOPBAS, Mayor of Istanbul, Turkey.
The Vice President of the People’s Republic of China, XI Jinping, opened the World Council. He praised UCLG for its role in bringing cities together and in combating the economic crisis.
Bertrand DELANOE declared that international institutions must understand just how much local and regional officials, local actors, are effective partners.
Several mayors of cities from across the globe, including Johannesburg, Frankfurt, Rosario, and the President of Metro Vancouver, shared the solutions they implemented in their cities when confronted by the global economic crisis and its repercussions on local finances.
Following up on the international negotiations on climate change during and after Copenhagen. Concerned as to the outcome of the COP 15, local and regional authorities reaffirmed their wish for the settlement of a truly global, ambitious, and legally binding agreement, including clearly defined objectives, this December, at the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change. The participants decided to create a negotiating delegation of cities across the different continents, and to launch an international campaign for the mobilization of municipalities during the first week of December.
Development Aid Effectiveness and Support for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. William COBBETT, Director of Cities Alliance - the joint urban development programme of the United Nations and the World Bank - presented the latest trends in international development cooperation. The participants underlined the need to reform a system that has been showing its limitations for decades now. They also affirmed their readiness to participate in the evaluation and the redefinition, ten years after their establishment, of the Millennium Development Goals, which will be undertaken by the United Nations General Assembly in autumn 2010.
The members of the UCLG World Council elected the Mayor of Quito, Augusto BARRERA, UCLG Co-President and responded in favor of accepting the offer of the Mayor of Chicago, Richard M. DAILEY, to welcome the UCLG Executive Bureau to the city in April 2010.
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