Outcomes of the First Day of the Retreat “Eurasia Cities and Global Trends”

The first day of the Eurasia Retreat “Eurasia Cities and Global Trends” took place on Thursday, May 25, in Kazan. The main priorities of the Retreat were to establish and strengthen links between municipalities, develop and implement joint projects, increase the involvement of cities in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

It is worth noting the vast geography of the Retreat. The event was attended by 60 delegations from 20 countries, including Armenia, India, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Russia, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Lebanon, South Africa and others. Presidents and members of UCLG-ASPAC, UCLG-MEWA and SALGA participated in the training.

The plenary session was opened by Ilsur Metshin, President of UCLG-Eurasia:

“Today, the world is going through difficult times, but let's ask ourselves - when was it easy? The role of leaders is to always do everything for the development of municipalities, improving the lives of citizens for the sake of future generations,” said Mayor of Kazan.

The guests of the Retreat were also welcomed in a video format by Carolina Cosse, President of UCLG, Mayor of Montevideo (Uruguay), Emilia Saiz, Secretary General of the UCLG World Organization, and Uğur İbrahim Altay, Mayor of Konya (Türkiye):

“Within the framework of all these changes and transformation processes, we will continue to work together leaving no one behind to build a peaceful future through increasing out cooperation with Russian and Eurasian local governments”, stated Uğur İbrahim Altay.

The speakers of the session included:

Bheke Stofile, President of SALGA, Co-President of UCLG (Pretoria, South Africa)

Ashok Kumar Byanju Shrestha, Mayor of Dhulikhel Municipality, President of ASPAC (Dhulikhel, Nepal)

Mehmet Duman, Secretary General of UCLG-MEWA (Istanbul, Türkiye)

Ekaterina Torubarova, Head of the Public Diplomacy Department of Rossotrudnichestvo (Russia)

Mohamad Saadie, President of Union of Dannieh Municipalites, Mayor of Deirnbouh, Honorary President of UCLG-MEWA (Lebanon)

Artur Dzhagaryan, Mayor of Ijevan, Communities Association of Armenia (Armenia)

Abdurakhmon Abdurakhmonzoda, Vice-Mayor of Dushanbe (Dushanbe, Tajikistan)

Kuvanychbek Kongantiev, Chairman of Bishkek City Council, Chairman of Union of Local Self-Governments of the Kyrgyz Republic (Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic)

Hamidreza Gholamzadeh Natanzi, Deputy Mayor for International Affairs at Tehran Municipality, Secretary General of Asian Mayors Forum (Tehran, Iran)

Svetlana Smirnova, First Deputy Secretary General – Head of the General Secretariat of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly (Moscow, Russia). She noted that “the modern trend should be a happy person,” because all the activities of local governments are intended for the benefit of an individual.

Rasikh Sagitov, Secretary General of UCLG-Eurasia, spoke about the history of the international municipal movement that dates back to1913.

“Next year UCLG-Eurasia will celebrate its 20^th anniversary. During this time we went through economic crises, interstate conflicts and pandemic. We have managed to cope with difficulties and keep our unity. Today, we have gathered to strengthen the interaction between Eurasia municipalities, to enhance the international cooperation of local governments in Eurasia with the cities of the world, as well as to contribute to the engagement of local governments of the Eurasia Region in the implementation of global agendas”.

During the session, the participants voiced the existing global problems, shared their experience in city management, and proposed practices that would help establish ties to resolve difficulties.

At the end of the plenary session, Ilsur Metshin, President of UCLG-Eurasia, presented letters of gratitude for the contribution to the development of the Eurasia municipal movement to Ilya Nozhechkin, Chairman of the Ulyanovsk City Duma, Kamil Nugaev, Deputy of the State Council of Tatarstan, Alim Temirbulatov, Chairman of the Council of Municipalities of the Republic of Dagestan, Magomed-Ali Turaev, First Deputy Head of Grozny, Elena Afanasyeva, Advisor to the Mayor of Izhevsk, and Tatyana Grigoryeva, Head of the International Relations Department of Perm.

Rasikh Sagitov, Secretary General of UCLG-Eurasia, was awarded the Letter of Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation.

The day continued with a session on decentralized cooperation.

At this session, Rasikh Sagitov delivered a speech about the forms of decentralized cooperation, modern features and trends, as well as the structure and activities of UCLG, in particular, one of the priority areas for UCLG-Eurasia today to become a learning organization.

“We are translating into Russian, adapting the World Organization's modules and conducting learning seminars. We held seminars on the Sustainable Development Goals for the municipalities of Yakutia, the Kyrgyz Republic, staffers of Bishkek Municipality, Dushanbe and Khujand. We are open for cooperation and we will be glad to conduct seminars on sustainable development in your city”.

The session continued with a presentation by Sara Hoeflich, UCLG Learning Director. She introduced the concept of decentralized cooperation and described its main types and forms, as well as gave recommendations on resources mobilization for decentralized cooperation.

The experience of cities in the field of decentralized cooperation was presented by Nicholas You, Executive Director of the Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation, expert in sustainable development; Anastasia Sibileva, Head of the International Relations Division of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow; Tatyana Grigoryeva; Ramazan Kabasakal, Head of Foreign Relations Department of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality; Mirolyuba Kirenskaya, Head of Department for External Relations and Peoples’ Affairs of Yakutsk Municipality; and Ana Moreno, Director of the Institute of Urban Journalism, President, OnCities2030 who delivered a speech about the cooperation of media with local governments.

The session was moderated by Ruslan Galiakhmetov, Head of the International and Inter-municipal Relations Department of Kazan City Duma.

29.05.2023

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