Dear members, dear colleagues
We are pleased to invite you to participate in the World Forum of Regions that will take place on 4th December in conjunction with the VI Africities Summit.
Organized jointly by United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) and United Regions- FOGAR (ORU-FOGAR), this event aims at bringing together representatives of regional authorities from around the world.
As you are aware, UCLG and ORU-FOGAR are working in strict collaboration to strengthen our representation before the international community, both complying with the objective of uniting our voices and also respecting the specific nature of each organization.
The World Forum of Regions in Dakar will be an important step in the alignment process of ORUFOGAR and the UCLG network, which is currently taking place. In view of this, our organizations are convinced that decision-making should be conducted at the level where citizens can exercise their influence. Cities and regional governments implement the same type of governance. A balanced territorial development is rarely only urban or rural-based and very often depends on the complementarity and synergy of all its assets. This makes the alliance between our organizations a vital step towards greater influence in the international development agenda.
The territories we represent and citizens we serve are today confronted with world-wide phenomenon to which local and regional authorities can and must react through both individual and collective action: climate change, sustainable and shared development, financial crises, harmony between peoples and cultures. Development of a territory cannot exclusively be addressed at state and national government level, it is essential for local and regional elected representatives to work together to share and redefine their priorities in this multi-level governance.
This Forum will bring together Presidents of regions, elected representatives from territories and their working partners. We sincerely hope that the Forum of Regions in Dakar will prove to be an innovative opportunity both to exchange between local representatives and also to define a joint roadmap in order to be as visible as possible in the forthcoming international agenda, in particular in the preparation of Habitat III, the negotiation process of the Millennium Development Goals Post 2015 and the future Sustainable Development Goals.
Taking part in this Forum is seizing an opportunity to make your voice heard and to present the reality of your territory; it is also being involved, here and now, in the positioning of local and regional authorities on the international scene by participating in an original experience and moment of great inspiration. In order for our collective reflection to evolve and to reach our shared goals, it is essential to have the maximum possible participation.
Enclosed you will find a pre-program and a preliminary registration form. Should you require further information, please contact the UCLG World Secretariat ([email protected]). We will forward you in the coming weeks details of the agenda and the practical organisation of this first Forum.
Friends and colleagues, we are looking forward to welcoming you in Dakar next December marking a new era of the international movement of local and regional authorities.
Kadir Topbaş, Mayor of Istanbul and President of UCLG
Michel Vauzelle President of the Region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and President of United Regions / FOGAR