UCLG-MEWA organized meetings of the Advisory board of Tehran VLR and the Presidency meeting Committee on Smart Cities and Urban Mobility besides participating in the 1st Sister and Twin Cities Festival and Iran 3rd International Expo of Smart Cities in Tehran between 4-8 July. The activities were carried out in collaboration and participation of Tehran Municipality.
Training on Localizing and Monitoring SDGs, and Advisory Board of VLR in Tehran
The training on the Localizing and Monitoring the Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) in Iran’s capital, Tehran, was held by UCLG-MEWA on July 5, 2022. The training was followed by the Advisory Board meeting on the upcoming Voluntary Local Review (VLR) of Tehran on July 7.
Localizing and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals has been among the priorities of UCLG-MEWA, and it has been actively working toward increasing the number of VLRs in the region.
The training included presentations by the UCLG-MEWA team on the topics of Evolution of the SDGs, Monitoring and Reviewing the SDGs at the local level, and the global VLR examples, as well as interactive sessions.
The first interactive session consisted of creating an SDG-driven project based on the randomly selected SDGs with the municipal staff of Tehran. The participants were placed in four groups, and they presented their ideas about the SDGs anonymously, and other groups guessed the answers. The winning team was presented with a UCLG-MEWA plaque. The second interactive session was one of the highlights of the event. The session was an opportunity for the UCLG-MEWA team to receive feedback from the highly engaging municipal staff regarding Tehran’s VLR regarding topics such as proposed stakeholders, particular SDGs, focus areas, etc.
Mehmet Duman, UCLG-MEWA Secretary General, highlighted the role of UCLG-MEWA in actively working towards monitoring the SDGs. He added that MEWA Region has been gaining momentum in localizing the SDGs in recent years, especially with the Voluntary Local Reviews, also known as VLRs, that have been drafted and the VLRs being prepared right now. No matter how small or big the city is, they can join the discussions on Sustainable Development Goals. İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, Karatay Municipality, Sultanbeyli Municipality, and Greater Amman Municipality have all attended the High-Level Political Forum for 2021 from the MEWA region. We wish to see Tehran attending this global event which gathers local governments of the world as well.
Salim Korkmaz, UCLG-MEWA General Coordinator, Melis Şahin, Coordinator of Committees and Projects Department, Muhammed Furkan Çalışan, Project Assistant, and Arzum Dilşad Ölçen, Project Assistant, constituted the organizing team of the training.
The training was also participated by Zinnur Büyükgöz, Mayor of Gebze (Türkiye), Mehmet Dinç, Deputy Mayor of Gebze, Dr. Hamid Reza Gholamzadeh, Deputy Mayor for International Affairs, Tehran Municipality / AMF Secretary General and Municipal Staff of Tehran Municipality.
The meeting of the Advisory board was aimed to review the preparedness of the VLRs process and receive feedback from the local stakeholders of Tehran for Tehran’s VLR.
UCLG-MEWA, Tehran Municipality International Affairs Department Representatives, the Asian Mayors Forum (AMF), Tehran ICT Organization Representatives, and Fuat Özharat, UCLG Coordinator at Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality constituted the Advisory Board of Tehran VLR.
The 1st Festival and Exhibition of Sister and Twin Cities of Tehran
The 1st Festival and Exhibition of Sister and Twin Cities of Tehran was held between 3-8 July 2022 at Goftegou Exhibition Center, Tehran. The event was organized by Tehran Municipality and the Asian Mayors forum.
The event gathered sister cities of Tehran, departments, subsidiaries, and districts of Tehran Municipality, as well as the private sector and international organizations to diversify the connections among various cities and present them the activities of the Tehran Municipality and its role in the local governments of the region. UCLG-MEWA also presented its activities to the participants by setting up a booth within the scope of the event.
Tehran Municipality holds the position of UCLG-MEWA Co-President for the 2022-25 term and is also the President of UCLG-MEWA Committee on Smart Cities and Urban Mobility.
The Sister Cities of Tehran included; Havana, Bangkok, Baghdad, Najaf, Dushanbe, Manila, Bishkek, and Kazan.
Iran 3rd International Expo of Smart Cities on July 3, 2022
The Ministry of Interior of Iran organized the Iran 3rd International Expo of Smart Cities on July 3 in Tehran. This program was targeted to develop participants’ networks and provides capacity building opportunities for “Smart City Policies/Practices while increasing the citizens’ awareness regarding smart practices.
UCLG-MEWA has been working on Smart Cities through its Committee on Smart Cities and Urban Mobility for quite a long time. UCLG-MEWA Secretary General gave a key-note speech on policy coherence for smart cities. As an international institution, UCLG-MEWA closely follows its members’ activities and contributes to its capacities.
UCLG-MEWA Secretary General Mehmet Duman emphasized the New Urban Agenda’s statement about local governments’ responsibility to deliver human-oriented services to citizens in the most effective way. He added that Smart cities need technology to build cooperation, be inclusive and transparent, and be safe. We cannot leave any of them behind.
Several panels titled Smart Economy, Smart City Center, Smart Government, Artificial Intelligence, and Security in Smart Cities were among the highlights of the Expo.
UCLG-MEWA Committee on Smart Cities and Urban Mobility Presidency Meeting
The Presidency meeting of the UCLG-MEWA Committee on Smart Cities and Urban Mobility was held on July 6, 2022, in Tehran. UCLG-MEWA and Tehran Municipality organized the meeting.
The meeting discussed the Administrative updates such as new membership applications to the committee and drafting the thematic activity plan for the term, such as the policy paper and 3-year roadmap.
UCLG-MEWA holds its congress every 3 years to renew its governing bodies, presidencies, and the thematic committees’ governing bodies. The UCLG-MEWA Committee on Smart Cities and Urban Mobility’s governing bodies were also renewed at the UCLG-MEWA Congress ’22. Therefore it facilitates the members and committee presidency to have a start-up meeting.