Alliance of Civilizations
Alliance of Civilizations and Local Governments
Taking into account the report prepared by the UN High Level Group of Alliance of Civilizations, UCLG has taken the initiative to play an efficient role in this important process by creating a platform among local governments. Consequently, a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Alliance of Civilizations and UCLG in Madrid, Spain on 15 January 2008.
UCLG also took part in the High Level Political Dialogue of the Group of Friends of the Alliance co-chaired by President Sampaio and the Spanish and Turkish Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
The importance of local government associations and networks, and explicitly that of UCLG as a partner and counterpart at the local level, has been also recognized in the Report presented by the High Level Panel on the Alliance of Civilizations to the UN in November 2006. During the 2nd World Congress of UCLG in South Korea, the Mayors ratified their support of the objectives of the Alliance of Civilizations.
UCLG Co-President and the Mayor of Istanbul, Mr. Kadir TOPBAŞ has taken further steps to support this initiative, whereby a protocol has been drawn up in March 2008 between Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, UCLG World Organization and UCLG-MEWA in order to start a new initiative of cooperation covering various aspects of the local government movement, including the Alliance of Civilizations and Local Governments as one of the main components.
Building upon this initiative, during the UCLG World Council meeting held in Istanbul in November 2008, Dr. Kadir TOPBAŞ and Mr. Jordi HEREU, the Mayor of Barcelona, has agreed on developing and implementing a joint project to be coordinated by UCLG-MEWA, which is anticipated to constitute the initial step of a long-term collaboration amongst the partners.
In parallel with the priorities of the Alliance of Civilizations, The Hague Agenda on the City Diplomacy and FEMP’s (Federacion Espanola De Municipios Y Provincias) working paper on the role of cities in the Alliance of Civilizations, the project lays a special emphasis on the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Second Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations, 6-7 April 2009, Istanbul, Turkey
On 6-7 April 2009, over 1,000 participants – among them several Heads of Government, over 50 Ministers, as well as policy-makers, foundation, media and grassroots leaders from around the world – convened in the Second Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations in Istanbul Turkey, to forge new partnerships and generate ideas aimed at building trust and cooperation among diverse communities.
UCLG-MEWA, together with UCLG and associated local government representatives were present at the second Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations to reassert the importance of the role of local governments in the establishment and maintenance of respectful coexistence between the different communities which make up cities. They reaffirmed the commitments made in the Declaration on City Diplomacy (The Hague Agenda), in The Hague, 13 June 2008, on the initiative of the UCLG Committee for City Diplomacy.
The representatives of local governments met, on 7 April 2009, to discuss ‘Cities at the heart of cultural diversity, how to encourage city diplomacy’. The representatives of local governments confirmed the convictions expressed and the commitments undertaken in The Hague Agenda of 13 June 2008.
The UCLG Presidency, in the person of Mr. Kadir Topbas, Mayor of Istanbul, and Mr. Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris, representing local authorities in the High Level Ministerial Dialogue and during the Plenaries, presented The Hague Agenda and the working document of the Working Group on the local dimension of the Alliance of Civilizations as tools for the Alliance to obtain concrete results on the ground.
The Working Group proposed three concrete actions: the elaboration of a guide on the theme of “coexistence, identity and urban design”; a series of documentaries entitled “Cities 2030” (on the new urban spaces, times and rituals); and a visual competition “Long live cities” aimed young people in cities across the world.
Besides Mayor Topbas and Mayor Delanoe, the mayors and representatives of local governments assembled included Pedro Castro, Mayor of Getafe and President of the FEMP, Antonio Costa, Mayor of Lisbon, Jordi Hereu, Mayor of Barcelona, Mageed Abou Ramadan, Mayor of Gaza and President of the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities (APLA).
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