Associations of Eurasia Local Governments Towards #UN75

On the occasion of the 75^th anniversary of the United Nations, the UN Secretary General António Guterres has launched a global conversation on the role of global cooperation in building the future. He considers this consultation is a milestone to capture the views of the global public and all stakeholders in managing global trends, including climate change, changing demographics, new technologies and inequalities.

Upon request of the United Nations, UCLG has commited to facilitate a Report on the vision of local and regional leaders of the future, which will be based on results of discussions among local and regional governments, as well as their associations.

The first online meeting in the Eurasian region was held via Zoom platform on April 21, 2020. The participants were heads of associations of Eurasia local governments. UCLG-Eurasia was the organizer of this online conference.

The date of the online meeting was not chosen at random – on April 21, Russia celebrates the Day of Local Self-Government. This date emphasizes the importance and the critical role of the local self-government institution in developing and strengthening of democratic foundations of civil society.

Among the topics covered by the participants were the role of local governments in the implementation of global agreements, the status of local governments in the management structure in future, the ideal renewed UN system where local and regional governments have a seat at the global table, etc.

According to President of the Association of Communities of Armenia Emin Eritsyan, UCLG can become that lobbist tool which will allow to ensure the involvement of local and regional governments in decision-making processes and agreements. In addition, Emin Eritsyan expressed a wish concerning the creation of a significant body within the UN structure that would represent interests of local and regional governments along with the General Assembly.

As Executive Director of the Association of Volga Cities Vladimir Reprintsev highlighted during the discussion of current trends, it is important to find a balance between such contradictory notions as globalization and antiglobalization, centralization and decentralization.

Head of the project office of the Union of Russian Cities “Strategic Planning in Russia” Aleksandr Prilepin focused participants’ attention on the impact of big data and access of municipalities to technologies. “The United Nations should take into account interests of all cities leaving no one behind,” noted Aleksandr Prilepin.

Executive Director of the Association “Healthy Cities, Areas and Settlements” Tatiana Shestakova told about interests of cities related to healthcare of inhabitants and collaboration with the World Health Organization. Her colleague Anatoly Yaroshevsky, Executive Director of the Association “Cities of the Urals” stressed the need for the participation of local governments in global issues, among which ecology is a particularly pressing issue.

Following the discussion of environmental aspects, head of the Department of Economy of the Yekaterinburg Administration Aleksey Pryadein noted that a global trend towards urbanization leads to high increase in solid household waste. “Looking to the ideal future in 2045, it would be good to bring waste processing to 100%,” said Aleksey Pryadein. In addition, he called for cities to include Agenda 2030 in development strategies of municipalities, as it had been done in Yekaterinburg.

Head of the Center of Intermunicipal and International Cooperation of the All-Russian Congress of Municipalities Darya Aslanova, Executive Director of the Union of Cities of the Centre and North-West of Russia Aleksandr Vasilyev and Chairman of the Association “Union of Municipalities of the Republic of Dagestan” Alim Temirbulatov took part in this event as well. The meeting was moderated by Secretary General of UCLG-Eurasia Rasikh Sagitov.

21.04.2020

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