Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

From 12 to 15 October, the AMB participated at the World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders, organised by the UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments) in Bogotá (Colombia). This is the largest and most influential meeting of elected representatives of local and regional governments.

During this 5th UCLG World Congress, a new president was elected, Mpho Franklyn Parks Tau, former Johannesburg mayor, and Ada Colau, Barcelona mayor and AMB president, was appointed co-president. In addition, the AMB will be part of the UCLG World Council and the Executive Bureau, in its Metropolitan Division, at the hand of Alfred Bosch, International and Cooperation Vice-president.

AMB president, Ada Colau, took part in the 2nd World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments, in order to contribute to building the position of local voices for the New Urban Agenda that will be approved in Quito during the global Habitat III, summit from 17 to 20 October of this year, and has also participated in several statutory work sessions.

The 2016 of this triennial summit ‘Local Voices for a Better World' takes on more relevance due to being held only few days before Habitat III. It brings together over 3000 representatives of world metropolises and regions in order to develop its own global agenda and move forward several recommendations on the local angle of the Development Agenda and the core areas of Habitat III's New Urban Agenda.

During the congress, a political statement was also approved, and the GOLD IV report was presented, the UCLG's contribution to Habitat III. This report includes a chapter on the metropolitan situation, to which the AMB made its contributions.

Moreover, Metropolis, the world's largest network of metropolitan areas, held a Board meeting during the summit in Bogota. Strategic action lines for the network of cities were defined at the meeting for upcoming years, 2018-2020.