Mayors of Paris, Sao Paolo and Tshwane (Pretoria) elected as the first Presidents of United Cities and Local Governments
Barcelona, 10 May 2004 - Mayors from three world regions - Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris, Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, Mayor of Tshwane (Pretoria) and Marta Suplicy, Mayor of Sao Paolo - have been elected as the Presidents of United Cities and Local Governments during its Founding Congress in Paris from 2-5 May 2004. Clarence Anthony, Mayor of South Bay, Florida, joins the elected leadership in the key post of Treasurer. The Mayors, who all boast a history of successful involvement in local government, will preside over United Cities and Local Governments until its next congress which is scheduled to be held in Jeju, South Korea, in 2007.
The elections took place at the end of a successful Founding Congress attended by almost 3000 Mayors and local representatives. The Congress saw the formal constitution of the governing bodies of United Cities and Local Governments, with 288 Mayors and local councillors from seven world regions elected onto the new World Council.
The Congress theme was theme ‘Cities, local governments; the future for development’ and debate and discussion took place through three high-level plenary sessions and fifteen workshops on key issues such as city diplomacy, the multicultural city, women in local government, financing local government and local strategies to tackle HIV/AIDS. The Congress also saw the historic signing of a wide-ranging Collaboration Agreement between the World Bank and United Cities and Local Governments, which is the first of its type ever to be signed with a local government organisation.
Participants in the Congress adopted an official declaration setting out key issues and action points for the new global organisation. Written in consultation with its members, the declaration confirms United Cities and Local Government’s intention to work in partnership with the United Nations to meet the Millennium Development Goals. It also identifies three priority action areas for achieving the goals: Sustainable Development in a Globalising World; Decentralisation and Local Democracy; Cooperation and Diplomacy – a challenge for our cities.
The congress delivered on the commitments made at the 1996 Istanbul Conference on Human Settlements by officially establishing a single voice for the world’s towns and cities. The conclusion of United Cities and Local Governments’ Founding Congress heralds a new era in which Mayors combine forces with each other and with global organisations like the United Nations and World Bank in one common cause: finding and applying effective solutions to the challenges of urbanisation and globalisation affecting the world’s citizens on a daily basis.
About United Cities and Local Governments As the united voice and world advocate of democratic local self-government, United Cities and Local Governments brings together the global networks of its three founding members - the International Union of Local Authorities, founded in 1913, the World Federation of United Cities, founded in 1957, and Metropolis, founded in 1984.
Representing over half the world’s population, the cities and association members of United Cities and Local Governments are present in over 120 countries across seven world regions – Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Eurasia, Middle East and West Asia, Latin America and North America. Over 1000 cities are direct members of United Cities and Local Governments, as well as 100 national associations which represent all the cities and local governments in a single country. The headquarters of the organisation are in Barcelona, Spain.
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