Mayors of cities of Eurasia met in Kazan

PRESS RELEASE

Of Eurasian Cities Forum

Mayors of cities of Eurasia met in Kazan within the framework of the Eurasian Cities Forum, “Heritage and Innovations”, held on July 5-8, 2012.

The Forum was organized by the municipality of Kazan, the Eurasian section of World Organization of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the Eurasian section of World Heritage Cities (OWHC). The Forum was held under the patronage of UNESCO.

The forum was held at the highest level. It was attended by mayors, representatives of local and regional authorities and heads of international organizations and leading experts. There were 160 participants from 80 cities of 11 countries.

The subject of the forum – “Heritage and Innovations” – is unique because it is dedicated to the past and the future at the same time, as well as to preservation of heritage and innovations. The following issues were discussed during the forum:

• Innovations in the sphere of public services;

• The role of cultural and historical heritage in recognition of cities;

• Rise of international recognition of heritage cities of Eurasia;

• Rise of tourist attractiveness of cities of Eurasia and development of cultural tourism;

The forum was opened by the Co-president of the World Organization "United Cities and Local Governments”, Mayor of Kazan I.R.Metshin.

State Advisor of the Republic of Tatarstan, Chairman of the supervisory board of non-commercial organization “Republic Foundation of revival of historical and cultural monuments of the Republic of Tatarstan” Mintimer Shaimiev, the Secretary General of the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) Denis Ricard, Deputy Director of UNESCO World Heritage Institute Ron Van Oers, Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey Ertugrul Gunay, Mayor of Grozny M.M.Huchiev, the head of the Federal Agency for Tourism A.V.Radkov, Minister of Youth Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan R.T.Burganov delivered their welcome speeches to participants of the forum.

The following events took place as part of the forum:

• Plenary session on “Methods of increasing international recognition and touristic attractiveness of heritage of Eurasian cities”, which was attended by over 100 people. There were the following speakers: Deputy Director of UNESCO World Heritage Institute Ron Van Oers; Mayor of Safranbolu Necdet Aksoy, Mayor of Kovrov V.R.Kaurov, Mayor of Troitsk V.A.Schekotov, Vice-Mayor of Yakutsk G.N.Mihaylov, the Chief Architect of the city of Suzdal N.E.Kupriyanova, the Head of investment projects and strategic development of Magnitogorsk Yana A.Kovalenko, Chairman of the City Council of Deputies of Osh T.N.Sabirov.

• Plenary session on “Innovations in the sphere of providing public services”, which was attended by over 100 people. Presentations were made by the Program Director of UCLG, the project manager of GOLD III Edgardo Bilsky, Director of the department of “Urban Development” of Institute for Urban Economics S.B.Sivaev.

• The General Assembly of the Eurasian section of World Organization "United Cities and Local Governments”. According to the decisions of the General Assembly:

Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin was elected the President of the Eurasian section of UCLG;

Dmitry I. Azarov - Mayor of Samara, Aisen S. Nikolaev - Mayor of Yakutsk, Muslim M. Khuchiev - Mayor of Grozny were elected Vice-Presidents of UCLG-Eurasia;

The city of Grozny was chosen to become the venue of the next General Assembly of UCLG in 2015;

Ugledar (Ukraine) and Samara (Russia) became members of the Eurasian section of the World Organization of UCLG.

In addition, the participants of the meeting approved the report on the activities of the past period, the main areas of activity until 2015, the statutory plan of activities and work programs of UCLG in 2013, estimates for 2013, composition of the Audit Commission and the Council of the Eurasian section.

The mayors of cities of Kazan, Samara, Grozny, Yakutsk, Osh, Comrat, Ulan-Ude, Ugledar, Arzamas, Karabudakhkent Area of ​​Dagestan, Izhevsk, Kurgan, Makhachkala, Naryan-Mar, Orenburg, Troitsk, Ulyanovsk, Cheboksary, Kirov, Volgograd, Perm, Naberezhnye, Rostov-on-Don, Stavropol, Astrakhan joined the Council of the Eurasian section.

The Head of the city of Cheboksary L.I.Cherkesov, the Head of Buinsky municipal district R.H.Abuzyarov, Executive Director of International Assemly of Capitals and cities of Russia V.I.Selivanov, the Head of the International Cooperation department of Administration of Irkutsk O.A.Seredkina, Deputy Director of Union of Local Governments of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan G.B.Bekbasarova joined the Audit Commission.

The next meeting of the Eurasian section of the organization will take place in June 2013 in Rabat (Morocco) at the World Congress of UCLG.

• The meeting of the Association of Towns of the Volga region on "The organization and provision of public and municipal services in the cities of the Volga region";

• 4 workshops during which participants got acquainted with the activities of the city of Kazan on preservation of World Heritage sites and other cultural, historical and architectural monuments of value at the state and regional levels. The participants visited the Kazan Kremlin, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, as well as the historic cities of Bulgar and Sviyazhsk which are to be included in the UNESCO heritage list.

In addition, the participants visited the high-tech research and technology part «IT park» where they got acquainted with innovative potential of Kazan. The participants of the Forum adopted the experience of Kazan in preparation for the Universiade: the construction of sports facilities and transport infrastructure.

 Exhibitions "Heritage cities of Eurasia", "Innovations in public services", "The Eurasian section of OWHC - 10 Years Together", "Universiade - 2013";

• The reception on behalf of the Co-President of UCLG and Mayor of Kazan I.R. Metshin. During the reception, the forum participants got acquainted with the intangible heritage of Tatarstan and Tatar national delicacies. During solemn ceremony the diplomas of the Eurasian section of the World Organization "United Cities and Local Governments" were awarded to:

1) Kirov - for active cultural policy

2) Karabudakhkent municipal district of Dagestan - for its contribution to the development of inter-municipal cooperation

3) Makhachkala - for landscaping and planting of urban environment

4) Volgograd - for active inter-municipal cooperation and development of friendly relations

5) Ulyanovsk - for active inter-municipal cooperation and development of friendly relations

6) Arzamas - for landscaping and planting of urban environment

7) Yakutsk – for preservation and active promotion of heritage

8) Osh - for achievements in economic development and improvement of investment attractiveness

9) Izhevsk - for sustainable urban development

10) Union of Local Governments of Kyrgyzstan - for its contribution to the development of local self-government and inter-municipal cooperation.

11) Cheboksary - for efficient work on city beautification and maintenance of cleanliness.

12) Troitsk - for development of projects to preserve historical and cultural heritage

• The Russian-Turkish Conference on Cooperation in the field of tourism;

The final declaration of the Eurasian Cities Forum and recommendations on the development and improvement of the quality of public services were adopted at the closing session adopted.

As a result of the intensive program of the forum participants of the forum have worked effectively for the benefit of cities and shared best practices, and got a lot of pleasant impressions and noted warm hospitality of Kazan. The highest level of organization of the event was widely recognized.

09.07.2012

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