Mayor Mel Sarmiento to moderate two events at the World Urban Forum in Nanjing, China

Calbayog City Mayor and RDC-8 Chair Mel Senen Sarmiento will be in Nanjing, China from November 3 – 6, 2008. He was invited by UN Habitat to moderate two events during the Fourth Session of the World Urban Forum. These events are the “Mayors’ Roundtable” and “Land Markets, Social Inclusion and the right to the City”, a high-level panel discussion on the difficulties of socially and physically integrating the urban poor into cities.

Roundtables are organized by Habitat Agenda partners such as ministers, mayors, youth, women, parliamentarians, and others. These action-oriented sessions enable peers to exchange views on key urban issues. Some roundtables will be closed door events, while others will be open to the public.

The Mayors’ roundtable on November 3, 2008 will build on the momentum gathered by the local authorities' movement around the world and discuss the role of cities and city managers in assisting national government in the search for "harmonious urbanization". The event will emphasize the important contribution local authorities are making to ensure harmonious urbanization, based on the fact that - if local authorities were responsible for implementing policies in order to respond to the changing conditions in increasingly multicultural societies - then they must be internationally recognized and nationally empowered to create an environment that is conducive to sustainable development for all.

The following officials have confirmed their participation in the Roundtable Event:
Mayor Zhang Guangning, Co-President UCLG (chair)
Representative from the China Association of Mayors (co-chair)
Dr. Wolfgang Schuster, Mayor, Stuttgart, Germany
H.E. Mir Abdul Ahad Sahibi, Mayor, Kabul, Afghanistan
Hon. Anders Knape, President of the Swedish Association of Local authorities, Sweden
Hon. Mel Senen S. Sarmiento, Mayor, Calbayog City, The Philippines
Hon. Michel Destot, President, Association des maires de grandes villes de France, Deputy and mayor, Grenoble, France
Mr. Simon Compaore, Mayor, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Mr. Kep Chuk Tema, Governor, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Mr. François Amichia, Mayor, Treichville and President, Union des Villes et Communes de Côte d’Ivoire, Côte d’Ivoire
Ms. Olga Ramasalon, Mayor, Antsirabe, Madagascar
Mr. Ousmane Masseck Ndiaye, Mayor, Saint Louis and Ministre d’Etat de la Décentralisation et des Collectivités locales, Senegal
Mr. Mohamed Hadj Taieb, Mayor, Sfax, Tunisia
Mr. Konrad Otto-Zimmermann, Secretary General, ICLEI
Ms. Anita Normark, Building and Wood Workers' International, BWI
Mr. Serguei Lazarev, Chief of UNESCO’s Struggle against Discrimination and Racism Section, Paris

On November 5, 2008, Mayor Sarmiento will moderate “Land Markets, Social Inclusion and the right to the City”, the high-level panel discussion on the difficulties of socially and physically integrating the urban poor into cities. Panelists will discuss issues affecting the functioning of the land markets, particularly recent legislative and policy interventions. This networking event is linked to the dialogue on socially harmonious cities which explores the obstacles that many cities and countries are face in integrating the urban (and urbanising) poor into existing cities and social formations. Each of the countries represented on the panel – Brazil, India, South Africa and Spain – have faced different practical, financial, legal and social obstacles to overcome fragmented and divided urban development, as well as distorted land markets. Each has used varying methods to overcome these obstacles, including legislative mechanisms.

Panelists in this event are:
Hon. Lindiw Sisulu, Minister of Housing, South Africa
Hon. Kumari Selja, Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, India
Teresa Surita Juca, Ministry of Cities, Brazil
Maria Rosario Alonso Ibañez, Ministry of Housing, Spain

The World Urban Forum was established by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanization and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies. It is projected that in the next fifty years, two-thirds of humanity will be living in towns and cities. A major challenge is to minimize burgeoning poverty in cities, improve the urban poor's access to basic facilities such as shelter, clean water and sanitation and achieve environment-friendly, sustainable urban growth and development.

It is a biennial gathering that is attended by a wide range of partners, from non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, urban professionals, academics, to governments, local authorities and national and international associations of local governments. It gives all these actors a common platform to discuss urban issues in formal and informal ways and come up with action-oriented proposals to create sustainable cities.

Keynote speakers from the Philippines include Vice President Noli De Castro and Senator Rodolfo Biazon.

Mayor Sarmiento’s expenses for this trip were paid for by the World Bank.