The Great Eurasia Partnership

The 4^th International Municipal BRICS+ Forum was held in Saint Petersburg on November 24-26, 2022, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Rossotrudnichestvo.

The Forum’s objective is to foster integration of the positive world experience, implementation of state tasks on the ground, development of social and economic well-being of municipal territories, introduction of information, digital and innovative technologies into every-day activities of developing economies’ major cities.

On November 24, as part of the Forum, the panel discussion “Great Eurasia Partnership: Strategic Inter-municipal Interaction” took place. It aimed at establishing new formats of collaboration and creating efficient partnership, promoting a productive dialogue and studying unique experience of different countries in the field of inter-municipal diplomacy.

The session was moderated by Secretary General of UCLG-Eurasia Rasikh Sagitov and First Deputy Secretary General – Head of the General Secretariat of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly Svetlana Smirnova.

In his welcome address, Rasikh Sagitov highlighted the significance of engagement in a global dialogue despite the complex international situation: “Our mayors have been supported by representatives of local governments from North and South America, Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia-Pacific. This proves the fact that local governments from all over the world need to interact with each other and are ready to facilitate international cohesion. Support is the first thing everyone needs, implementing ambitious plans.”

A joint search for new solutions, strengthening and developing mutual contacts, undoubtedly, will contribute to the formation of a general atmosphere of trust and harmony between peoples of Eurasia countries and the whole world.

One of the participants of the panel discussion was Mayor of Nizhny Novgorod Yury Shalabaev. According to Yury Shalabaev, the sister cities system is being developed in the directions that are of interest for Nizhny Novgorod, its citizens and enterprises, institutions, organizations located there.

“For the time being, Nizhny Novgorod has 20 sister cities, and their geography is wide. For the last three years, Nizhny Novgorod has organized and hosted more than 70 mass events of international and interregional level, including in the spheres of economy, education, culture, youth and intermunicipal cooperation,” Mayor shared.

In addition, in their reports, participants of the discussion stressed that establishing and strengthening direct links between economic entities, elaborating and implementing joint projects, creating conditions to attract investments, developing infrastructure, information support, expanding cultural exchange, scientific and humanitarian cooperation are those mechanisms that regions and municipalities can successfully use to build mutually beneficial relations with foreign partners.

At the end of the discussion, Secretary General of UCLG-Eurasia Rasikh Sagitov awarded Head of Ekateringofsky District Oleg Smakotin the certificate of membership in the Eurasia Section of UCLG.

Let us remind that on October 2022, in the city of Daejeon, South Korea, at the meeting of the Council of UCLG-Eurasia, the decision was made on the admission of new members to UCLG-Eurasia, among which was the intracity municipal entity of the city of federal importance Saint Petersburg Ekateringofsky District.

28.11.2022

Back to the list