Summit to help African cities achieve their goals

THE executive mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Parks Tau, and the secretary-general of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa, Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, were today expected to launch the Africities Summit, which starts next Sunday and is expected to bring more than 5 000 delegates to Johannesburg.

The launch of the summit, with the theme “Shaping the Future of Africa with the People: The contribution of African Local Authorities to Agenda 2063 of the African Union”, will culminate with a media briefing at the Sandton Convention Centre, where the event will take place from November 29 to December 3.

The five-day summit seeks to address issues of urban and economic development in African cities. Topics to be covered include social and economic impact of urbanisation, economic growth and urban poverty, infrastructure development, environmental challenges and climate change.

“The Africities Summit gives us a great platform to produce a document that will give clear guidance and direction for all local governments to connect a vigorous understanding and appreciation of their strengths and abilities,” said Tau. “The document will provide a futuristic overview of African cities and map a model of how each city can attain their specific vision.”

Mbassi said: “This summit will deliberate on the implementation of Agenda 2063, collecting the views of different layers of society to get buy-in and commitment to act.” – Mercury Correspondent