The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) participated in the XXVII Mercociudades Summit, held in Montevideo, Uruguay, between November 29 and December 1, 2022. The purpose of the meeting was to think, debate and exchange experiences to move towards “Friendly cities, greener cities”. In its Assembly, the host city, Montevideo, assumed the presidency of the network, which will last for one year.
Mercociudades is a network of South American cities that seeks to promote regional cooperation and integration, as well as sustainable development and participatory democracy at the local level. The network is made up of 375 cities in 10 South American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia. The collaboration between these cities aims to face common challenges and problems, and encourage the exchange of experiences and good practices in areas such as culture, the economy, education, the environment, security and urban planning, among others.
ECLAC was present at the regional dialogue “The city of the future, environmental sustainability and social inclusion” with the participation of Bruno Lana, Economic Affairs Officer of the Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division. The ECLAC representative highlighted the social, environmental and economic benefits of a structural change in urban mobility oriented towards the energy transition. Mobility has been selected by ECLAC as one of the strategic sectors for a Big Push for Sustainability. Bruno Lana also pointed out that compliance with climate commitments in cities will require structural changes in urban mobility, and explained ECLAC’s recent developments in this area, promoted by the project “Inclusive, sustainable and intelligent cities within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean”, of the ECLAC-BMZ/GIZ 2020-2020 Program.
The dialogue included the participation of Nicolás Cuesta, mayor of San Justo, Rebecca Borges, of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, Camilo Romero, ambassador of Colombia in Argentina and Ignacio Lorenzo, director of the Cleaning Division, Municipality of Montevideo. (Consult the complete program)
At the Mercociudades Assembly held on December 1 at the Municipal Palace of the Municipality of Montevideo, ECLAC once again expressed the importance of strengthening cooperation and integration between the cities of the region, especially in areas such as mobility and urban planning, in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of the 2030 Agenda. Likewise, the sending of the renewal document of the agreement between ECLAC and Mercociudades was confirmed.
