Eurasia Regional Section of the World organization "United Cities and Local Governments"
Eurasia Regional Section of the World organization "United Cities and Local Governments"
The meetings of the Executive Bureau of the UCLG World Organization were held on May 18-20 in an online format. The Executive Bureau is the executive body of UCLG, whose members are elected from among the members of the World Council by voting for a term of three years. From UCLG-Eurasia, the members of the Executive Bureau are representatives of 12 cities: Izhevsk, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Vologda, Stavropol, Grozny, Moscow, Osh and Turkistan.
At this event, UCLG-Eurasia was represented by President of the Eurasia Section of UCLG and Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin, Chairman of the Stavropol City Duma Georgy Kolyagin, Chairperson of the Rostov-on-Don City Duma Zinaida Neyarokhina, Mayor of Samara Elena Lapushkina, Minister for External Relations and People's Affairs of Yakutia Gavril Kirillin, Chairman of the Moscow City Duma Alexey Shaposhnikov, Mayor of Turkistan Rashid Ayupov, Mayor of Osh Taalaibek Sarybashov, Secretary General of UCLG-Eurasia Rasikh Sagitov and others.
The meetings reflected the priorities that UCLG members had identified during the months of the pandemic, and highlighted the overall theme of the Executive Bureau sessions – "Care at the heart of local service provision for an inclusive recovery".
The work of the Executive Bureau began with a discussion on the importance of international cooperation within UCLG. The importance of development cooperation on the topic of SDGs localization was highlighted at the session on the renewed role of local and regional governments. Participants also discussed how the pandemic encourages us to rethink ourselves and renew our relationships with partners and the international community.
The Executive Bureau hosted a meeting of UNACLA (UN Advisory Committee on Local Authorities), which was attended by representatives of the Global Task Force of Local and Regional Governments and organizations such as ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) and CLGF (Commonwealth Local Governments Forum), as well as the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Maimunah Mohd Sharif. Under the leadership of President of UNACLA and Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin, the session participants discussed the upcoming United Nations high-level meeting to review the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.
"We need to ensure that UNACLA can play an important role and provide representative consultations on all issues related to local governments, providing a link between local and regional governments and the UN system," Ilsur Metshin, Mayor of Kazan, President of UNACLA.
During the UCLG’s statutory meeting, the first High-Level Policy Dialogue on Health was held. The discussion was based on the principle of ensuring equal access to vaccines. Along with President of UCLG Mohamed Boudra and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngucapo, Mayor of Samara Elena Lapushkina also spoke on the issues of urban health.
"You know that the Russian Federation is actively fighting against the coronavirus infection and its socio-economic consequences. At the municipal level, we directly implement the developed measures and see their efficiency and receive feedback from the population. The volunteer movement has also become one of the most important types of assistance activities," Elena Lapushkina, Mayor of Samara, shared how the city of Samara provides assistance to the population during the pandemic.
During the event, a meeting of the Financial Management Committee was also held, where the organization's expenses were discussed and the draft budget for 2021 was presented. At the meeting of the Committee on Statutory Affairs, President of UCLG Mohamed Boudra presented the work plan for the year.
During the High-Level Policy Dialogue on Digitalization, local and regional governments discussed the efforts needed to use digital technologies during the aftermath of COVID-19 for the benefit of people and the planet.
On the last day of the Executive Bureau, more than 220 participants gathered. Summing up, it is worth noting that the participants of the sessions emphasized the UCLG's commitment to creating a world that unites solidarity, care and equality. Separately, the importance of international cooperation was noted, especially in such issues as overcoming the consequences of COVID-19 and localization of the Sustainable Development Goals.
24.05.2021
