WEBINAR ON THE RESPONSE OF CITIES TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN THE MENA REGION


UCLG-MEWA AND UN-HABITAT ROAS ORGANIZED A WEBINAR ON THE SITUATION OF THE CITIES IN THE MENA REGION IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (COVID 19).

United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA) and the UN-HABITAT ROAS have addressed the condition of cities in the MENA Region in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic via an online meeting on May 21, 2020

The online meeting started with speeches of Mohamad Saadie, President of the Union of Municipalities of Dannieh and President of UCLG-MEWA, and Dr. Erfan Ali, the Director of UN-HABITAT ROAS.

Starting his speech, Mohamad Saadie first highlighted the importance of cooperation between UCLG-MEWA and UN-HABITAT ROAS to achieve the SDGs and to fight against the pandemic as well as the climate change.

Fatma Şahin, Mayor of Gaziantep and President of the Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT), started her speech explaining the measures taken by Turkey in the session entitled “Response of Cities to the COVID-19 Pandemic.” In line with this, she mentioned that Gaziantep Municipality reached out to the needy people by launching a campaign called “Touch Hearts, Win Hearts” and “We are Self-sufficient” and distributed masks which were produced by themselves in these challenging times.

Abdallah Anati, Executive Director of the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities (APLA), spoke about the measures taken in Palestine in the process of fighting against the COVID-19. He also said that the state of emergency had been declared, and entries into and exits from streets were restricted after the detection of the first cases in Palestine on 5 March 2020.

Jean Elias El Asmar, Mayor of Hazmieh, Lebanon; Homoud Alenezi, Municipal Councilor of Kuwait; and Dr. Mohamed Nada, World Bank Senior Specialist for the Middle East and North Africa region, were the participants of the panel session.

The second session of the day addressed the topic of the challenges in implementing social/physical distancing policies. Prof. Dr. Erman Tuncer, Member of the Board of Trustees of World Academy for Local Government and Democracy, said that the danger of COVID-19 has not yet passed and that the definitive treatment is not available right now and is being developed based on a trial-and-error method. He also touched upon the issue of vaccination and added that it seems impossible to get a vaccine earlier than 18 months and to relieve people psychologically, it is important to conduct the COVID-19 tests.

Alexander Kouttab, former Chair of Policy and Advocacy at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), assessed the situation in terms of refugees. Kouttab has also emphasized the importance of social distancing. Muhammed Abou Samra, another speaker of the session, presented the characteristic features of informal settlements.

The last session of the day titled “Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Future Planning” concluded with the presentations of  Prof. Dr. Haydar Sur,  the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Üsküdar University, and Prof. Dr. Hassan Radoine, Director of Architecture, Planning and Design School at Muhammad VI Polytechnic University.

In his closing speech, UCLG-MEWA Secretary General Mehmet Duman underlined that the COVID-19 crisis has affected the whole world in every respect and that the measures taken by local governments in this process are very important in fighting against the pandemic. Lastly, Duman stressed the importance of building solidarity between local and regional governments.

Comments are disabled