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 | Newsletter
Number 27 - 13/06/2016 | |
 | HIGHLIGHTS Sarajevo, new member of MedCities Sarajevo,the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has officially become a new member of MedCities. The city has a population of more than 300.00 unhabitants, and is located in the area of Sarajevo plain | |
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 | International events Mediterranean municipalities at the forefront of the refugee crisis Last 30th and 31st May, MedCities participated in a regional workshop on the role of Municipalities in the refugees' crisis response. The event was co-organised by the Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) and the World Bank in partnership with UN HABITAT, and with the support of ACTED, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Medcities, and United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia (UCLG-MEWA) |  | MEDCOP22 MEDCOP Climate preparatory meeting MedCities participated on the 27th May in a preparatory meeting of the programme commission of MEDCOP Climate. More than 60 international and local networks and stakeholders were gathered in Tanger in order to advance in the preparation of the MEDCOP Climate agenda, which will be held on 18th and 19th July 2016 |  | Bilateral Cooperation Collaboration between the municipalities of Zarqa and Izmir Last 11th and 12th of May, the head of the Local Development Office of the municipality of Zarqa met the manager of the Izmir Waste Department. The aim of the mission was to exchange technical expertise on waste collection and disposal in their municipalities |  | Smart Cities MedCities participates in the Smart City Expo Casablanca On May 18th-19th MedCities participated in the 1st edition of Smart City Expo Casablanca organised by Smart City Expo - Fira de Barcelona. This is one of the four territorial Smart City Expo organised during 2016 as a preparation of the Smart City Expo Barcelona, which will take place next November 15-17 in Barcelona |  | Strategic Alliances MedCities participates in the 3rd Forum Barcelona – Casablanca On May 30th MedCities participated in the 3rd Forum Barcelona – Casablanca. This Forum is organised by the European Institute for the Mediterranean (IEMed) and the Social Development Council of Casablanca (CDS) and it aims at bringing together decision-makers from both cities in order to exchange expertise and good practices to improve city daily management |  | Habitat III Habitat III Hearings for Local Authorities From 16-17 May, Mohamed Sefiani, mayour of Chefchaouen, participated at the Habitat III Hearings for Local Authorities, where mayors and local leaders presented their recommendations and shared their perspective on national legal frameworks, urban planning, and the implementation and follow-up of the New Urban Agenda | |
 Blue Economy Promoting Blue Economy in the Mediterranean region: UfM holds experts meeting Euro-Mediterranean experts on Blue Economy met for the first time after the Ministerial Meeting held last November in order to discuss the state of play of the Union for the Mediterranean regional cooperation, including the projects recently labelled and prepare for the launch of the UfM Forum on Blue Economy. The meeting took place in Turku, Finland on 17 May, back to back with the European Maritime Day (18-19 May) | | | EDITORIAL Urban trends in the Mediterranean In 2016, the urban agenda is taking a greater dimension in international development debates. In November, the city of Quito (Ecuador) will host the international conference HABITAT III and some days before Bogotá (Colombia) will receive thousands of visitors for the 5th World Congress of United Cities and Local Governments. Cities are at the heart of the discussions on how to work for sustainable development. Some important questions are the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, how to tackle climate change, how to build energy efficient, resilient and smart cities, the use of public space or how to improve civic engagement. All these debates are shared by cities around the globe. Nevertheless, all of them, with no exception, have a Mediterranean dimension and need to be contextualized and adapted to the reality of the cities of our region. MedCities is aware of this need. The participation in international events during this year, including the involvement in the organization of MEDCOP 22 to be held next month in Tanger, is an example of the importance of this work that MedCities is promoting along with its members. Mediterranean cites have to be part of these debates in order to build common frameworks that include the reality of our fragile region. This is the only path towards a more integrated and inter-connected Mediterranean region in which cities have a stake in giving response to global challenges. MedCities will work hard to make this happen in partnership with all the institutions sharing the same goal. | | |
|  Think global, act local 
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| acting as General Secretariat  |
