Delegation of UCLG-Eurasia visited Indonesia

The delegation of Eurasia section of UCLG together with Kazan Committee for Tourism visited two important events in Indonesia: Asia Pacific Conference on “Local Government Voices towards Habitat III on a New Urban Agenda” and the ASEAN Mayors Forum.

Asia Pacific Conference on “Local Government Voices towards Habitat III on a New Urban Agenda” was hosted by Wakatobi, Indonesia September 5-7 and mostly aimed at preparations for the Habitat III Conference, which will approve the New Urban Agenda for the next 20 years, and identifying the collective aims, that should be included into the Agenda. The conference brought together the leaders of such cities as Jakarta, Surakarta (Indonesia), Guangzhou, Fuzhou (China), Jeju (South Korea), Katbalogan (Philippines) and others.

Mayors and other representatives of the Asia-Pacific region cities took part in the main meetings September 5, the President of the Asia-Pacific section of UCLG and Jeju Province Governor Mr. Won Hee Ryong opened the conference. One of the welcome-speeches was delivered by Ivan Kuznetsov, the Deputy Head of Kazan Executive Committee. Later he also made a speech on the “Local Governments dialogue” panel session about Kazan success in local challenges decision making. The presentation aroused a great interest among the conference participants.

In the framework of the conference UCLG-Eurasia representatives met with the Mayor of Guangzhou Cai Caolin. They discussed questions of inter-municipal relationships. Guangzhou is a capital of Guangdong province of People's Republic of China and political, economic, scientific, technological, educational, cultural and transport center of South China. Let us remind that Kazan and Guangzhou signed the Agreement on the sister-cities relations establishment in 2012.

Next meeting of UCLG-Eurasia delegation was with Mr. Won Hee-Ryong, the Governor of Jeju Province (South Korea), Vice-President of UCLG and the President of the Asia-Pacific section of UCLG. During the meeting, the parties exchanged their views on further development of the relationship between the two sections and collaboration between Kazan and the province of Jeju.

In addition, September 5 the delegates met with Ms. Zhang Ruoning, the General Director of China Association for International Friendly Contact, in order to exchange views on prospects for the development of bilateral relations and discuss their plans for future cooperation.

September 6 there were meetings of the Executive Bureau and the Council of the Asia-Pacific section of UCLG. The Secretary General of Eurasia section of the UCLG Rasikh Sagitov made a presentation on the activities, main events and initiatives of the section and also welcomed the partners to actively cooperate in the framework of the Agreement, signed by the leaders of the sections July 2015,

The second of the important events visited by our delegation in Indonesia became in the ASEAN Mayors Forum. ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) is political, economic and cultural regional intergovernmental organization of the countries located in Southeast Asia. From 8 to 10 September the City of Makassar, South Sulawesi Province, Republic of Indonesia gathered the mayors of the cities from the countries-participants of the ASEAN to the forum “Adaptive and Intelligent Cities for an Integrated Borderless Prosperous Region”, jointly organized by UCLG ASPAC, Committee of Permanent Representatives of ASEAN, and the City of Makassar.

The Forum participants signed the Macassar declaration, which expressed their common opinion on the important mission of local authorities in the prosperity of the region and their commitment to the interests of ASEAN.

According to the Secretary General of the Eurasia section of UCLG Rasikh Sagitov, our office and the ASEAN Association have many related issues. All municipalities of ASEAN are participants of the Asia-Pacific section of UCLG, with whom we are working together within the framework of the Agreement on Cooperation mentioned above. In his speech Mr Sagitov described the experience of integration processes on the Eurasian continent and called for cooperation and exchange of experience on the issues of integration.

20.09.2015

Back to the list