The Metropolitan Section of UCLG holds its 10th Congress on Cities in Transition

02.12.2011

More than 850 participants from 150 different cities in different regions of the world attended the Xth Congress of the Metropolitan Section of UCLG, Metropolis, “Cities in Transition”, in Porto Alegre (Brazil), from 23 to 26 November.

UCLG organized two joint sessions on “sharing innovative knowledge in Cities from the South” and on the “future of financing for cities in Latin America”, jointly with the Global Fund for Cities.

Key speakers attended the 18 sessions : Joan Clos, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UN-Habitat ; José Fortunati, Mayor of Porto Alegre and host of the Congress ; Jean-Paul Huchon, President of the Region Ile-de-France and President of Metropolis ; Xavier Trias, Mayor of Barcelona (Spain) and Vice-President of Metropolis ;  Márcio Araújo de Lacerda, Mayor of Belo Horizonte (Brazil); Miguel Lifschitz, Mayor of Rosario (Argentina); Khalifa Sall, Mayor of Dakar (Senegal), et Mpo. Parks Tau, Mayor of Johannesburg (South Africa), among others.

The metropolitan section of UCLG, celebrating its 25 years, reelected Jean-Paul Huchon as President of the Organisation and appointed Alain Le Saux as new Secretary General. The new action plan encompasses eight projects, designed as “Initiatives Metropolis”. Metropolis now counts with 126 members, 8 of which are new: Durban, the State of Minas Gerais, Haikou, Hyderabad, Rosario, Tirupati, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

Special thanks were given to Josep Roig, Secretary General of UCLG, for his twelve years as Secretary General of Metropolis.