Mayor Claudia López held a series of executive meetings aimed at sharing Bogotá's main infrastructure projects with representatives of infrastructure, and urban planning and administration sectors, with the objective of inviting the most competitive companies to participate in future selection processes.
Among the series of meetings was a meeting organized by the working group of the Mouvement des Entreprises de France (MEDEF, as per the acronym in French), where the Mayor presented Bogotá’s main projects to a group of representatives of various French companies.
MEDEF is France's leading business association, representing more than 750,000 firms nationwide in the SME, industry, commerce, and services sectors. The meeting was held with the objective of finding opportunities for collaboration with the Colombian capital.
Among the projects of interest to MEDEF are key infrastructure bets as part of the Bogotá-Region's mobility strategy, involving the Metro, Regiotram, cables, green corridors, and bicycle infrastructure.
"We have an opportunity to advance social inclusion and build a stronger economy," said Mayor López, who also highlighted major infrastructure projects, such as the Canoas Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), which will allow progress towards the decontamination of the Bogotá River, and the Waste-to-Heat Plant, which will make it possible to transform waste into energy.
The Mayor's day in Paris also included a meeting with the Société du Grand Paris (SGP, as per the acronym in France), an agency established by the French government to manage the 'Greater Paris' metropolitan region initiative. A knowledge exchange session on sustainable mobility strategies and public administration vis-à-vis the Bogotá-Region experience was also held.
Later, Mayor López participated in a high-level dialogue organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Bogotá's progress in cultural heritage planning and management.
Mayor López also met with her Paris counterpart, Anne Hidalgo, to discuss the achievements of both cities and the progress of the agreements acquired in the Letter of Intent signed between the two cities in October 2021.
The main focus of the meeting was the exchange of experiences, from both Bogotá and Paris, for the fulfillment of the Global Development Agendas, through which the two cities have been consolidating themselves as sustainable cities and global role models on issues such as climate action, citizen engagement, and sustainable development.
During the meeting, Mayor López shared Bogotá's most recent main advances in the areas of sustainable development, integrated waste management, and sustainable multimodal mobility systems with the implementation of mega-projects such as the First Metro Line and the Regiotram de Occidente.
One of the main topics discussed was the concept of the "15-Minute City", a city vision promoted by Mayor Anne Hidalgo that aims to facilitate citizens' mobility while improving access to basic needs using a sustainable approach. This initiative coincides with the 30-minute city, a vision that will become a reality in Bogotá as contemplated in the Land Use Plan (POT, as per the acronym in Spanish).
The Mayor of Paris, for her part, mentioned the possibility of continuing the close relationship with Bogotá and expressed her interest in new opportunities for collaboration due to the common interests between the two cities based on their development strategies aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
