Mr. Mehmet DUMAN, UCLG-MEWA Secretary General, accompanied by Randa Al Sabbagh, Project Officer, went to Kuwait on 21-22 August 2016, to pay visits to the Municipality of Kuwait City and to the Arab Towns Organization (ATO).
During the visit to Eng. Ahmed AL-MANFOUHI, the Director General of Kuwait City Municipality, Mr. Mehmet DUMAN presented the work, activities and publications of UCLG-MEWA and invited him to be part of the UCLG-MEWA family and to participate in its regular activities. Besides, discussions took place between Mr. DUMAN and Mr. MANFOUHI around the next elections of the UCLG Presidency during the 5th UCLG Congress in Bogota, on 12-15 October 2016.
Eng. MANFOUHI welcomed the delegation and said that he would be honored to be a part of UCLG-MEWA family and that he will take into consideration Mr. DUMAN’s proposals.
During the visit to Mr. Eng. Ahmad AL-SABEEH, the Secretary General of the Arab Towns Organization (ATO), Mr. DUMAN said that he would like to work more in collaboration with ATO. He added that “if the two organizations work together in an effective way, it will give to the cities of the region of the Middle East and West Asia more strength at the international level. Then the voices of these cities will be heard by the whole world.”
Mr. DUMAN also invited ATO to be part of next events of UCLG-MEWA, namely;
– UCLG-MEWA Executive Bureau and Council Joint Meeting & UCLG-MEWA & WALD International Migration Management Summit in Şanlıurfa, Turkey, on 08-10 November 2016;
– Asian Mayors Forum (AMF) General Assembly, which will be held in conjunction with the UCLG-MEWA Committee on Culture meetingin Gaziantep, Turkey on 10-12 November 2016.
Eng. AL-SABEEH agreed on Mr. DUMAN’s point of view and said they are ready to participate in the 5th UCLG Congress and in the next events of UCLG-MEWA.
Both organizations agreed to work more in collaboration with each other in the future to represent cities of the Middle East and West Asia region in a strongest way.