With the decision of the UCLG-MEWA Congress held in Amman on 9-10 July 2019, the Committee on Development Cooperation and City Diplomacy and the Committee on Local Governance were united under the name of “Committee on City Diplomacy and Local Governance”. Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT) was elected as the President of the Committee, while the Co-Presidents became Ankara Metropolitan Municipality (Turkey), Asira Al Shamalia Municipality (Palestine), Palestinian Union of Local Authorities (APLA), Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality (Turkey) and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (Turkey).
During our visit to the General Secretariat located in Ankara, we informed Assoc. Dr. Birol Ekici, Secretary General of the Union, about the structure, functioning, and committees of the organization. Mehmet Duman, UCLG-MEWA Secretary General, also discussed the activities carried out by the Committee on Development Cooperation and City Diplomacy, which UMT was chairing the previous term. One of the results of the meeting was the decision to organize a Committee Presidency Meeting to determine the operational strategy of the Committee for the 2019-2022 Period. UMT will play an important role in the new period between local governments in Turkey and UCLG-MEWA, as UMT is also elected as the Country Representative of Turkey.