UCLG reinforces the importance of unlocking local finance at OECD Governance of Infrastructure Forum

OECD Forum

UCLG participated at the second OECD Forum on Governance of Infrastructure in Paris.

On 20 March, UCLG Secretary General, Josep Roig, brought the perspective of local and regional governments to the secon­d OECD Forum on Governance of Infrastructure in Paris.

The Forum focused on identifying good practices in key areas for making infrastructure deliver; such as infrastructure policy and planning, stakeholder participation, integrity, procurement, and institutional arrangements for multi-level investment projects.

In a panel debate with Jeff Moore, Assistant Deputy Minister at the Department of Infrastructure Canada and Andres Rodriguez Pose, Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics on jobs and wellbeing and how infrastructure can secure wellbeing, UCLG Secretary General pointed out that, while cities are an engine of development, there is an urgent need to create new financial instruments that are accessible and adapted to local governments in order to finance local sustainable infrastructure and services. Josep Roig argued that, in order to have a lasting impact, strategies must empower cities to manage financial tools to develop territories that ensure mobility, connectivity and basic services for all.

Josep Roig also emphasized the important role of local and regional governments in the creation of sustainable and inclusive livelihoods and the importance of implementing the New Urban Agenda to achieve this. He called on national governments to ensure a strategic partnership with subnational governments in policy definition.UCLG and OECD: partners to achieve sustainable economic and social development in an urbanized world

On behalf of UCLG, Josep Roig acknowledged the efforts made by the OECD over recent years to recognize sub-national governments as necessary partners in achieving sustainable economic and social development in an urbanized world.

The UCLG Global Observatory on Local Finances is an example of this recognition. The Observatory, which is run in close collaboration with the OECD, is a tool that monitors the financial capacities of local governments around the world to implement the commitments taken by the international community for sustainable development. The Observatory has highlighted the great inequalities in terms of financial capacities between local governments globally.

[Click here to see the report: Sub-national Governments in OECD Countries: Key Data]

UCLG also contributes to ongoing OECD initiatives, such as the Inclusive Growth in Cities programme.

Josep Roig thanked the OECD “for the important work we have carried out together and that we shall continue developing further in the coming years to achieve sustainable economic and social development”.

Click here to read Josep Roig’s speech at the OECD Forum on Governance of Infrastructure.