..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date 7 October 2005
Press Release No: N/51/2005

ASIA-PACIFIC URBAN FORM TO BE HELD IN HANOI FROM 12-14 OCTOBER

UN-sponsored meeting, CITYNET Congress to put cities at heart of effort to achieve MDGs

BANGKOK (United Nations Information Services) – UNESCAP will convene the Fourth Asia-Pacific Urban Forum in Hanoi, Viet Nam from 12 to 14 October at the Hanoi Daewoo Hotel. The theme of the Forum, to be held in conjunction with the CITYNET Congress, is ‘Making Millennium Development Goals Work for Cities.’ The President of Viet Nam, Mr. Tran Duc Luong, will address the meeting’s opening session which starts at 09:00 hrs on 12 October.

Other speakers of note at the opening session include Mr. Nguyen Quoc Trieu, Chairman, Hanoi People’s Committee, Mr. Hiroshi Nakada, Mayor of Yokohama and President of CITYNET, Ms. Erna Witoelar, UN Special Ambassador for the Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific, and Mr. Shigeru Mochida, Deputy UNESCAP Executive Secretary.

Approximately 200 participants from 25 countries are expected to attend. Participants will include policy makers from national and local governments, and representatives of non-governmental and community-based organizations, research and training institutes, and the private sector, as well as members of CITYNET, a regional network of local authorities for the management of human settlements based in Yokohama, Japan.

At the meeting participants will discuss the potentials of cities and local governments to achieve the MDG targets, and assess appropriate mechanisms and processes for institutionalizing and localizing MDGs at the local government level. Organizers also expect that a set of recommendations on the specific contributions and role of cities and local government in achieving the MDGs will be developed.

Notable features of the meeting include a ‘Bazaar of ideas’, where innovative practices and approaches will be presented and discussed, and a ‘Supplier’s Forum,’ where on-going and planned regional and country-level initiatives of international and bilateral agencies will be presented. More information on the Forum may be found at: www.unescap.org

Held once in four year, the CITYNET Congress, scheduled for 11-15 October, aims to provide a platform for the cities to showcase good practices, benchmark themselves with counterparts in Asia and beyond, and assist cities in forming fruitful partnerships with international agencies and the private sector.

Note to Editors: You or your representatives are invited to attend the Asia-Pacific Urban Forum to be held from 12-14 October 2005 at the Hanoi Daewoo Hotel. An opening press conference is scheduled for 12 October at 12:00 hrs.

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