Habitat III and METROPOLIS Montréal, a partner of the New Urban Agenda for the 21st century - The Mayor of Montréal on a mission to Mexico

MONTRÉAL, March 8, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - The Mayor of Montréal and President of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal, the Honourable Denis Coderre, will visit Mexico City, March 8 to 10, 2016, to take part in a thematic meeting in preparation of the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III). As part of this meeting, Mayor Coderre will head his first board of directors meeting as President of METROPOLIS, the main organisation that brings together cities of more than one million inhabitants.

"Montréal made a commitment to the United Nations and other large cities of the world to become a partner in the process leading to Habitat III, and to contribute to the development of the New Urban Agenda for the 21st century, or the roadmap that will inspire the States' urban policies for the next 20 years," said Mayor of Montréal. "Today, international politics is no longer based only on relations between States. Increasingly, cities play an important role on the international scene. In this context and as President of METROPOLIS, my hope is for this organisation to become a major player in key issues that include the fight against climate change, Living Together, governance, autonomy of cities and urban development," added Mr. Coderre.

Financing Urban Development: The Millennium Challenge
The international conference in Mexico, with "Financing Urban Development: The Millennium Challenge", as a theme, is one of the 11 thematic and regional preparatory meetings for the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), which will be held in Quito, Ecuador, in 2016. This high-profile event is vitally important because it is held once every 20 years. The first meeting was held in Vancouver (Habitat I), in 1976, and the second one in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1996 (Habitat II).

Last October, the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal hosted one of the international preparatory meetings for Habitat III, as part of the Montréal Thematic Meeting on Metropolitan Areas. This meeting led to the adoption of the Montréal Declaration on Metropolitan Areas. This document represents a significant contribution to the New Urban Agenda, which will be adopted at Habitat III. It calls for the implementation of partnerships between representatives of States, municipal and metropolitan institutions, and civil society, to improve the quality of life of residents.

The discussions between the Mayor of Montréal and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, His Excellency Ban Ki-moon, and his recent visit to Montréal, helped to strengthen the relationships between Montréal, Canada's UN city, and the United Nations.

METROPOLIS: First meetings as President
Mr. Coderre was appointed President of METROPOLIS in December 2015. As part of the Mexico conference, he will head his first meetings of the organisation's board of directors, executive committee and finance committee.

Created in 1985, METROPOLIS is the main international organisation of cities and metropolitan areas of more than one million inhabitants and brings together 140 members. It represents an international forum where large cities discuss common issues.

SOURCE Ville de Montréal - Cabinet du maire et du comité exécutif

Source: Catherine Maurice, Press attaché, Cabinet du maire et du comité exécutif, 514 346-7598; Information: François Goneau, Relationniste, Service des communications, 514 868-5859