Bogotá was the center of attention at the high-level meeting of the UN-Habitat Assembly, due to the participation of Mayor Claudia López as spokesperson for local governments around the world regarding the New Urban Agenda.
"The only way to lead is by example. I am the first woman - a diverse woman, the daughter of a teacher - to become Mayor of Bogotá," said Mayor López at the beginning of her speech, delivered at the United Nations (UN) session hall.
She called on local and state governments to assume a real commitment to the new urban agenda, related to equity, sustainability, gender perspective, and quality education for young people.
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In this tweet, Mayor López talks about the high-level meeting:
En representación de Bogotá ante Naciones Unidas hicimos un llamado sobre la necesidad de que gobiernos locales y regionales tengamos representación plena ante la asamblea general de esta organización.
— Claudia López Hernández (@ClaudiaLopez) April 29, 2022
Aquí la participación de nuestra ciudad en @ONU_es
👉 https://t.co/qmXOWupE3bpic.twitter.com/sxsizD6anc
"We - the cities and regions - are the ones driving change, innovation, growth. Not only are we the first responders to emergencies, such as that of COVID-19, but we execute physical solutions and reach the goals agreed upon in these multilateral forums," she said.
"Let's be very clear: there is no multilateral agreement without the full integration of local and regional governments. We are at a turning point, like we were in the 1930s. We face multiple global crises, threats to democracies," she added.
The Mayor also held a meeting with representatives of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITPD), with whom she discussed the sustainable and clean mobility policies being implemented in the city.
In this tweet, UN-Habitat highlights the Mayor's speech:
"Seamos claros, ningún objetivo global podrá alcanzarse sin la completa integración de los gobiernos locales y regionales en el escenario multilateral." @ClaudiaLopez Alcaldesa de Bogotá, Colombia. 🇨🇴 En vivo en ✅ https://t.co/nn0efZx7ZKpic.twitter.com/SeolE0pt9s
— ONU-Habitat (@onuhabitat) April 28, 2022
Her interlocutor, ITPD Director General Heather Thompson, was interested in knowing details of Bogotá's commitment to the Clean Multimodal Mobility Plan and the Land Use Plan.
Additionally, Bogotá’s representative spoke at the opening of the 100th session of the Regional Plan Association (RPA). Thomas K. Wright, president and CEO, accompanied her. At this event, the Mayor shared the city’s experience on its path to creating the Bogotá Region.
RPA works to develop projects to improve the economic and environmental conditions and quality of life of the inhabitants of the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan area.
At this meeting, Mayor López shared Bogotá's experience and the progress of its regional mobility model as a tool to respond to climate change, new dynamics in mobility, and the promotion of social development.
"This is the first year of the Metropolitan Region, the first year of the Land Management Plan, the first year of the Climate Action Plan. This is basically like a local level aligning of agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the New Urban Agenda," said the Mayor.
"That is the point we are at and we hope that your extraordinary knowledge and experience can help us now that we have begun the phase of the real implementation of all these political, legislative, and regulatory agreements that I have just mentioned to you," she added.
The Mayor's agenda will conclude with two main activities: the first will be a meeting with the Mayors' Council on Migration (MMC) in order to strengthen relations and share new advances in the strategy of attention to migrants in Bogotá.
Finally, she will have a meeting with Amson Sibanda, head of the National Strategies and Capacity Building Branch (NSCBB) to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals, with the intention of positioning Bogotá as a role model and leader in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
