Delegates from 57 cities across the world and 35 cities from India will gather on 7-8 July in the twin cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar in Gujarat for the Mayoral Summit of the sixth cycle of Urban 20, an Engagement Group under the G20.
By facilitating discussions among cities from the G20 countries, the U20 establishes a platform for cities to collectively inform G20 negotiations with respect to urban priorities. With over 500 participants, including mayors, deputy mayors, and city officials besides government delegates and knowledge partners, this is poised to become one of the largest U20 summits ever. The twin cities are bedecked with banners and posters highlighting the priorities of Ahmedabad City, the U20 Chair.
Ahmedabad is all set to welcome the delegates, and extensive preparations are going on to make the summit a success. Besides the inaugural session and the handover of the U20 Communiqué by the Mayors to the G20 leaders, a number of thematic sessions and spotlight events have been included in the two-day schedule.
In this endeavour, Ahmedabad is supported by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) as the nodal ministry, the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), the Technical Secretariat of U20, and the U20 Conveners, C40 Cities and UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments).
The Mayoral Meet will be officially inaugurated on 7 July by Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendrabhai Patel and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore.
Thematic sessions on the six U20 priority areas will be organised during the summit. The U20 priority areas echo the emphasis G20 is laying on environmental responsibility, climate finance, and cities of the future. The six priorities under U20 are namely; ‘encouraging environmentally responsible behaviours’, ‘accelerating climate finance’, ‘ensuring water security’, ‘promoting local culture and economy’, ‘reinventing frameworks for urban governance and planning’, and ‘catalyzing digital urban futures.’
The Thematic Sessions will include talks and presentations by Mayors or equivalent city leaders from the cities of Tokyo, Riyadh, Paris, Surat, Srinagar, Amman, Los Angeles, New York City, Katowice, Rio de Janeiro, Dubai, Indore, Kitchener, London, Montevideo, Johannesburg, Kochi and Durban among others.
Spotlight Sessions on topics such as Decarbonising the Built Environment; Mainstreaming Women, Youth and Children in Urban Development; Redefining City Investments: a global urban framework utilizing future technologies; Closing the Loop: circular economy in water, wastewater and solid waste; Building Climate-Responsive and Resilient Cities; and Making Data Work for People will be part of the subjects to be discussed.
The participating Mayors from across the world would also engage during closed doors sessions on both days to further deliberate on U20 priorities and sustainability agenda for cities. The closed-door session on the second day of the summit has been designed as a cities’ roundtable on the issue of ‘climate finance.’