Global Goals and Local Economic Development: Challenges and strategies for the LED Forum in Turin

05.10.2015

From 13 to 16 October 2015, the City of Turin will host the Third World Forum of Local Economic Development (LED Forum). UCLG is involved in organizing this third edition of the Forum alongside with other partners of the Turin Metropolitan Area, the Piedmont Region, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), ORU-FOGAR, ILO and FAMSI.

From 13 to 16 October 2015, the City of Turin will host the Third World Forum of Local Economic Development (LED Forum). UCLG is involved in organizing this third edition of the Forum alongside with other partners of the Turin Metropolitan Area, the Piedmont Region, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), ORU-FOGAR, ILO and FAMSI.

In recent days, the United Nations signed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to be adopted by the governments across the world. These goals have arisen from a wide unprecedented consultation that has involved five million people from all over the world over the past two years.

Now, the real challenge in implementing these goals is being concrete; not through negotiation between insiders, but through a dialogue that comes alive from the territory, local associative networks, and especially the citizens of the world; all of whom will share their direct experiences at the Third LED Forum in Turin.

The task of the Forum will be to address the crucial issue of how territorial development and the potential of the local economy can be both means and resources for the concrete application of the new SDGs, in order to face the challenges of food and the environment, a more socially equitable development, development based on social innovation and the enhancement of cultural identities.

Now available the UCLG Key Positioning on LED

The Key Positioning document will be disseminated during the 3rd World Forum on Local Economic Development. The document gathers the key messages of local and regional governments on local economic development, based on the Policy Paper produced by FCM, FAMSI and UCLG.

A wide Agenda for Local governments in Turin

Through a wide agenda of panels, workshops and B2B meetings that will be attended by representatives of municipalities, cities and territories, non-governmental organizations, international institutions and governments, the academic and business sectors, and local associations, the City of Turin is preparing to host dialogue and exchanges between cities and territories to facilitate the sharing of best practices, policies and tools for local governance that can influence the national and supranational levels.

The presence of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki‑Moon, has already been confirmed, as has the participation of several ministers, including international authorities such as Kathmandu and the Governor of Santa Fe, as well as over 200 mayors from across the world (Bethlehem, Calgary, St. Petersburg and Belgrade, to name just a few) that will join the large number of Italian representatives.

UCLG will be widely represented at the Forum, with a global delegation including the mayors of Dakar, Belo Horizonte, Matola, Chefchaouen, Las Cabezas de San Juan, Huelva, Cordoba, Pichincha, Francistown, Tchaourou, Maradi and Djougou, as well as representatives from the UCLG World Secretariat, UCLG Africa, Metropolis, the Committee on Urban Strategic Planning and the Working Groups on Local Economic Development and Intermediary Cities.

The Mayor of Dakar will be representing UCLG in the opening of the Forum, and the Mayor of Chefchaouen will be speaking during the closing. UCLG Secretary General, Josep Roig, will be moderating plenary session 1 on LED, an effective approach to reduce inequality.  UCLG and its Sections (ORU-FOGAR, Metropolis, UCLG Africa), members (FAMSI) and partners (FMDV) will be organizing panel sessions and workshops within Focus area 3 “Towards sustainable urbanization: LED strategies for creating positive urban rural linkages”.

Highlights of the meetings in the LED Forum:

UCLG stand and communication in Turin 

A UCLG stand will be set up in the Exhibition Space in Palazzo Chiablese, together with ORU-FOGAR, FAMSI, FCM, and other members. It will be ready on the morning of Tuesday 13 October. The stand will be used to present members’ material and as a meeting point for the UCLG delegation. 

Further, short interviews with local and regional officials, mayors and governors, will be conducted in Turin, to listen to what the members expect from the UCLG Congress that will take place in Bogota in 2016. 

For more info: