UCLG-MEWA Committee on Development Cooperation and City Diplomacy Presidency Council Meeting was held on 10 July 2017, hosted by Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT) in Ankara.
Hayrettin Güngör, Secretary General of UMT, Mehmet Duman, Secretary General of UCLG-MEWA, Halil Avşar, Deputy Secretary General of Adana Metropolitan Municipality, Selim Yücel Güleç, Head of Foreign Relations Department of Konya Metropolitan Municipality, Ömer Faruk Sarı, Chief of European Union Funds of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, Doğan Işık, Acting Head of Department in the Deputy Directorate General of the Middle East in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey participated in the meeting.
In accordance with the decisions taken at the first meeting of the Committee which was held on 11 March 2017 in Nablus, Palestine, it was decided to strengthen the relations of the sister cities in the Middle East and West Asia Region and to start the work between Palestine and Turkey for the first time. In this context, President and Co-Presidents of the Committee, who met in the Presidency Council Meeting, evaluated the content and coordination of the work to be carried out.
Participants emphasized the importance of establishing sister-city relations between Palestine and Turkey focusing on capacity building and technical support, and holding a Sister-City Conference that will gather relevant municipalities and stakeholders together. Highlighting that sister-city relations should be established not only with municipalities but also with other local actors, participants also discussed the changes in the committee membership, which has risen to 17 including the membership request from the Union of Turkish World Municipalities (TDBB).
After a review for ongoing preparations for the UCLG-MEWA Executive Bureau and Council Joint Meeting to be held on 18 October 2017, the Presidency Council Meeting was concluded with negotiations on UCLG-MEWA Calendar of Key Activities for 2017.