Culture, Heritage, Climate and Cities’ International Activity Are the Focus of UCLG-Eurasia’s Attention

A regional session dedicated to the definition of the priority areas of UCLG-Eurasia’s activities took place as part of the annual UCLG Retreat. Opening the meeting as a moderator, Secretary General of UCLG-Eurasia Rasikh Sagitov reminded that 2020 was a difficult year and paid tribute to the memory of the colleagues whose lives were claimed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rozalina Sagirova, Project Director, told the participants about the achievements of the section in the field of heritage preservation, urban culture development and gender equality. She noted such projects as “Heritage of Eurasia” consisting in exchanging images on the facades of buildings between UNESCO cities, study of the women’s representation in the leadership of Eurasia cities, etc.

Then, Mayor of Turkistan (Kazakhstan) Rashid Ayupov presented a concept of X International Conference of Eurasia World Heritage Cities and invited all those gathered at the session to take part in the event. The conference will be held as part of VIII Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States on March 26, 2021, and will take place both online and offline.

“Undoubtedly, the localization of the Sustainable Development Goals and preparation of the voluntary local reviews remain one of the priority areas of our activities,” Project Coordinator of UCLG-Eurasia Tansylu Nurieva highlighted. In 2021, it is planned to actively engage cities in the preparation of the voluntary local reviews, as well as to provide advisory support.

The UCLG-Eurasia’s initiative on the Research on and Rating of Municipalities’ International Activity caused lively discussion among the participants. The project was presented by Development Director Saida Zagidullina. Many regional sections expressed their interest and confirmed their intention to take part in the initiative. Among them were Asia-Pacific Region, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, etc.

The presentation of the Strategic Communications Coordinator Anna Arkhipova was dedicated to climate priorities of the region and urban resilience. According to her, in 2021, it is planned to conduct regional learning webinars on resilience, as well as implement jointly with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy the second phase of the climate project.

Then, Minister for External Relations and Peoples’ Affairs of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Gavril Kirillin took the floor. He told the participants about peculiarities of the region, as well as invited to the capital of the republic – the city of Yakutsk. “The Council of UCLG-Eurasia made a decision to hold the Eurasia Local Governments’ Congress in Yakutsk in 2021. On behalf of the leadership of the republic I invite all of you to our unique northern region on June 25-26, 2021!” the Minister concluded.

Following the presentations, comments were made by Secretary General of UCLG Emilia Saiz, former Vice-Mayor of Nizhnekamsk Elvira Dolotkazina, Head of the Department of International and Interregional Relations of the Stavropol Administration Tatyana Vasilenko, Coordinator of the UCLG Committee on Culture Jordi Pascual, etc. In addition, representatives of the cities of Neftekamsk, Krasnoyarsk, Bishkek, Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanovsk, etc. took part in the event as well.

18.02.2021

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