Local and regional leaders met UN Secretary General

8 September 2017

“Expectations are high on the objectives set by the UN towards local and regional governments; it is now time to see how we can work together to succeed”, reacted yesterday Frédéric Vallier, Secretary General of CEMR, after a meeting with UN Secreatry General, Antonio Guterres.

The meeting took place during the High-Level Meeting on the New Urban Agenda and UN-Habitat in New York (4-6 September). On the European side of the Global Taskforce delegation, Mr Vallier was accompanied by CEMR Co-president and Councillor of Telemark (Norway) Gunn Marit Helgesen, Vice-president of CEMR and Mayor of Soria (Spain) Carlos Martínez Mínguez and the Mayor of Madrid, Camen Carmela.

Leaders of the Global municipal movement met with UN Secretary General to see how to ensure that local and regional governments could partner with the United Nations. Antonio Guterres, a former local elected politician himself, promised to work closely with the different networks to reinforce the cooperation in respect of the Sustainable Development Goals, the implementation of the Urban Agenda and the Paris Agreement on Climate.

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The High-Level Meeting on the New Urban Agenda and UN-Habitat aimed at discussing the effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the SDGs and the positioning of UN-Habitat. This was a follow up of the adoption in Quito last year of the New Urban Agenda, the roadmap for sustainable urban development for the coming years.

On 1st August 2017 the “High Level Independent Panel to Asses and Enhance the Effectiveness of UN-Habitat” presented its report to the UN Secretary General António Guterres. The High Level Independent Panel, co-chaired by UCLG President Parks Tau and Mayor of Paris and UCLG Co-President Anne Hidalgo, was appointed to conduct an objective and independent review of the effectiveness and efficiency of UN-Habitat.

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