5th UCLG Congress took place in Bogota, Colombia on 12-15 October 2016. During the Congress, more than 200 mayors and 2000 participants from more different continents gathered under the theme “Local Voices for a Better World”. Kadir Topbaş, Mayor of Istanbul and President of UCLG since 2010, chaired the UCLG Executive Bureau, General Assembly and World Council meetings, for the last time.
The new members of UCLG World Council that were elected on 14 October 2016 at the UCLG World Council meeting gathered on Saturday 15th of October for the first time to elect the UCLG President and other Presidency members. Mpho Parks Tau, President of the South African Association of Local Governments (SALGA) and Councilor of Johannesburg (South Africa) was elected President of the Organisation in the elections where the candidates were Ilsur Metshin, Mayor of Kazan (Russian Federation) and Mpho Parks Tau, President of the South African Association of Local Governments (SALGA) and Councilor of Johannesburg (South Africa).
UCLG-MEWA will be strongly represented again
Tahir Akyürek, Mayor of Konya, was elected Co-President of the organization, thus, UCLG-MEWA will continue to be strongly represented in the highest level of governing body of UCLG World Organization. Moreover, Fatma Şahin, Mayor of Gaziantep and President of UCLG-MEWA took her place in the UCLG governing bodies as UCLG Vice President.
During the four-day meetings, UCLG’s strategy for the upcoming period was also discussed. The new membership fee system that UCLG-MEWA kept in the agenda and followed for a long term was adopted by the UCLG governing bodies and therefore, a good deal of decrease in membership fee for UCLG-MEWA members was guaranteed. The new membership fee system was also adopted in the UCLG-MEWA Executive Bureau and Council Joint Meeting in Şanlıurfa, Turkey on 8 November 2016. It will come into force in 2017.