UCLG-MEWA Executive Bureau and Council Joint Meeting was held in Diyarbakır on October 23-24, 2024. Presented under the theme “Local Diplomacy: Building Urban Future,” the event convened considerable amount of representatives and experts from local governments and international organizations.
At the opening of the meeting, UCLG-MEWA Secretary General Dr. Mehmet Duman drew attention to the need of en effective use of local diplomacy tools in solving global and regional problems. Duman emphasized that the increasing crises, especially the ones faced in the MEWA Region, makes international cooperation more important for local governments. During the meeting, which was Held under the auspices of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, strategic plans developed for the future of urban diplomacy and local governments’ leading a more effective role in the international arena.
Taking the floor after Dr. Mehmet Duman ath the opening ceremony, Serra Bucak, Mayor of Diyarbakır, gave important information about the historical and cultural richness of Diyarbakır, as well as the challenges and solutions faced by local governments in modern urbanization processes. Bucak stated that Diyarbakır became a prominent platform for collaboration and experience sharing among local governments.
Taking the floor after Bucak as an online participant, UCLG-MEWA President Taysee Abu Sneineh stated the reasons for not being able to attend in-person and said, “Although I am physically unable to be among you due to pressure and coercion, I am happy to have the opportunity to address you from afar. I would like to express my gratitude to the one who organized and hosted this event.”
Another speaker of the opening ceremony, Ahmet Metin Genç, Mayor of Trabzon and UCLG-MEWA Co-President, stressed the importance of collaboration saying, “We strive to cooperate with local governments in our region. Our aim is to develop policies that will produce common solutions to problems such as climate change and migration.”
Uğur İbrahim Altay, Mayor of Konya and UCLG Term President for 2023-2024, noted that peace is essential for cities and added, “We ought to play an active role in building urban diplomacy and peace, and stand firm against the massacre faced in Palestine.”
Lastly, UCLG Secretary General Emilia Saiz and Jan van Zanen, Mayor of the Hague and UCLG President, the final speakers of the opening ceremony, stated that UCLG is a network united around the values of cooperation making a specific reference to hope and peace in local diplomacy context. Noting that it is of utmost importance for municipalities to act in collaboration, they emphasized the need to follow global agendas and foster dialogue with their neighborhood without leaving no one behind.
Via the thematic sessions offered throughout the meeting, some crucial issues such as the challenges faced by UCLG-MEWA member municipalities and local governments, fostering the role of LRG’s in line with the SDG’s, digitalization, urban planning and crisis management were addressed. In addition, UCLG-MEWA’s work plan and strategic priorities for the year 2025 were evaluated.
The sessions held within the scope of the event, offered an intensive exchange of knowledge and experience among the participants. Local diplomacy, city-to-city cooperation, transportation and resilience, smart cities and capacity building for LRG’s in the face of crises, were the issues addressed with a specific focus throughout the event.
At the closing ceremony, Mehmet Kasım Gülpınar, Mayor of Şanlurfa and UCLG-MEWA Co-President, took the floor after Dr. Mehmet Duman abd Serra Bucak and said, “I have a strong belief that we will transform our cities into more livable, resilient and sustainable life spaces. The collaboration, first step of which was taken today, will sustain opening the way for solutions to the local and global challenges.”
In addition to it’s functioning as an important step in terms of local diplomacy as well as administrative decision-making, UCLG-MEWA Executive Bureau and Council Joint Meeting also reinforced the efforts by the LRG’s in the region, made to reinforce their resilience against global challenges.