The meeting of the UCLG Executive Bureau was held from 25 till 27 April, in Chicago, USA.

The 2010 Richard J. Daley Global Cities Forum assembled the leaders of more than 100 cities and local governments, along with prominent business, civic, academic and foundation leaders for discussions on key urban issues. This year forum addressed the theme, New Partnerships for a New Economy: Driving Innovation in Cities, and fostered a dialogue on the role of public-private partnerships as a key tool to help cities continue to deliver innovative programs and services in these challenging economic times.
The 2010 Forum launched a new era and had become a key annual international symposium that provided opportunities for mayors from around the world, business leaders, key policy-makers, leading scholars, and commentators to discuss innovative ideas about the future of our cities.
The Forum is named for Richard J. Daley, who served as mayor of Chicago from 1955 until his death in 1976, and was a major figure in American national politics throughout his career. At the center of interest for the Forum are issues that concerned him during his life and that concern urban policy-makers and scholars today.
On the forum, the Executive Bureau set the strateg for local and regional authorities with regard to the preparation of the United Nations General Assembly on the revision of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and to the Climate Change Summit to be held later this year in Cancun, Mexico. Positions on Urban Strategic Planning and the Agenda 21 for Culture were also debated and adopted during the course of the meetings.
           The Mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley went on to declare "By coming together, sharing innovative ideas and unleashing our entrepreneurial spirit and imagination, cities can help lead our nations to a healthy economic recovery. During good economic times and bad, cities have always been on the front line of innovative thinking. Now, because of the worldwide economic recession, cities are reinventing themselves and their economies with new ideas to help create jobs for both now and in the future."
        Main issues on these meetings were:
•    the role of local governments in the reconstruction of cities in Haiti;
•     the strategy of local and regional authorities in the preparation of the UN General Assembly review of the Millennium Development Goals;
•     the preparation of Conference of Parties 16 on Climate Change in Cancun;
•    the issues of urban strategic planning and of the Agenda 21 on Culture.
        Following the earthquake which struck Haiti in January, United Cities and Local Governments, through its Presidency, called upon members to mobilize in solidarity with Haitian local authorities. The World Secretariat is featuring, on its website, information on all activities undertaken by its members in solidarity with Haiti and our Organization has worked to make its position heard on the internationals stage.
      UCLG has continued lobbying the Millennium Campaign, UNDP, and UN Habitat to include a Local Government perspective, but five year on, the approach of the United Nations to development remains highly sectoral as evidenced by the titles of some of the round tables. UCLG members try to influence on their national governments to develop strake holder dialogue in the preparation of the national MDG reports for presentation before the General Assembly.
       The committee on urban strategic planning has developed a global position of local governments on strategic planning and urban development. The impact of the City Development Strategy all over the world is not limited to the economic sphere, it is also social, institutional and last but not least, political. UCLG recognizes that urban strategic planning is crucial for good local governance and has developed this policy document with the collaboration of 50 cities and municipalities in five regions around the world. Drawing from this rich experience from around the globe, this policy paper aims to become a lobbying tool for decision-makers to help them push for real-world solutions to real problems faced by their cities.
    During these meetings, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, Mayor of Mexico City, presented the III UCLG Congress of UCLG and the I Global Summit of Local and Regional Leaders, which will be hosted by his city from 17 to 20 November 2010.
He presented maim key features for the future Congress. They are:
Interactive forums: Three topics have been identified and online discussions will be facilitated by specialists
Food for Thought Section:  Featuring articles and a call for papers
News: Related to local authorities and to the Summit
A Community of practitioners: A Facebook utility for UCLG partners
Access to all practical information: registration, hotel booking, study visits etc.

UCLG took an active part on preparation of this Forum and participated in   its Extraordinary General Assembly on 26 April.

27.04.2010

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