Organized within the context of the localization of the Agenda 2030 defined by the United Nations, the Pilot Project was completed. Closing Meeting of the “Pilot Project on Mapping the SDGs in Turkey”, a joint project funded by World Academy for Local Government and Democracy, brought representatives of the hosting municipalities, officials from the central government and many NGO representatives together.
Participating in the meeting as honorable guest and keynote speaker, Arch. Dr. Kadir Topbaş, Founding President of UCLG-MEWA, and UCLG President for the terms 2010-2013 and 2013-2016, underlined the importance of local governments in the Agenda 2030. Dr. Topbaş emphasized that local governments should treat equally to all of its citizens, without making reference to any political affiliation. In this regard, he further emphasized the significance of local diplomacy in this process. Noting that city dynamics should be strengthened to achieve sustainable development, Dr. Kadir Topbaş, highlighted that opportunities of the cities were underlined during the negotiations for the Agenda 2030. He further stated that the Goal 11 on Sustainable Cities and Communities were determined in this process.
In the event, the outputs of the project were introduced by Dr. Faruk Örsün, academics at the Istanbul University Political Science Faculty. Mr. Örsün presented the general outcomes of the workshops conducted in 15 municipalities. Human development indexes of these municipalities/cities were also introduced by Prof. Dr. Murat Şeker, academics at Istanbul University. This allowed participants to interpret the outcomes of the workshops considering the socio-economic profile of cities/municipalities.
Ending with a closing session, the Project will be completed after finalization of the detailed conclusion report.