Habitat III, METROPOLIS and bilateral meetings - Report on the Mayor of Montréal's mission to Mexico

MONTRÉAL, March 10, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - The Mayor of Montréal and President of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal, the Honourable Denis Coderre, drew up a positive report regarding his mission to Mexico, where he took 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 presided over his first board of directors meeting of METROPOLIS, the main organisation that brings together decision-makers of cities with more than one million inhabitants, after his mandate was unanimously confirmed by its members.  

During this meeting, which highlighted the importance of Montréal and large cities on the international political scene, the board of directors agreed to work actively to meet the many challenges facing local governments. Member cities will work to share best practices in the fields of urban governance, political and fiscal autonomy, on Living Together, as well as on challenges posed by climate change, to meet the COP21 agreement, which was signed in Paris last December. Representatives of large cities also worked to develop a positioning for the association, in preparation of the major Habitat III Conference, which will be held in Quito next October, and where the new urban agenda will be determined for the next 20 years.

Mayor Coderre delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the Habitat III thematic meeting with "Financing Urban Development: The Millennium Challenge" as a theme. "We know that investments in cities and metropolises of the 21st century will need to increase significantly over the next decades. Some say that budgets will triple by the year 2030. The time has come to review current funding models for metropolises. Let's be visionaries, creative and bold," said Mayor Coderre.

As part of the bilateral meetings, Mayor Coderre met with several mayors and local leaders, who are members of METROPOLIS. They included Mpho Franklyn Parks Tau, Mayor of Johannesburg, South Africa; Gerardo Pisarello, First Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, Spain, and Miguel Mancera, Mayor of Mexico. At these meetings, mayors Coderre and Mancera decided to establish, in the coming weeks, a collaboration agreement on specific topics, including governance, economic development, transportation, culture and baseball.  

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

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