Six cities and an inter-municipal consortium from Brazil, four Argentine cities, and two regions from Mexico and Colombia have been selected so far to be part of the International Urban Cooperation Program (IUC), an initiative funded by the European Union that works to promote the implementation of the New Urban Agenda through sustainable, ecological, and inclusive growth.
The aim is for cities in Latin America to join with European cities locally to exchange knowledge that helps drive sustainability policies to enable the implementation of the New Urban Agenda in Latin America. Working as partners with a shared philosophy, the best methods for planning, financing, developing, regulating, and managing cities will be promoted. After signing a Collaboration Agreement, they will outline a Local Action Plan for sustainable urban development that will include economically viable activities and pilot projects that can be carried out in the short term and encourage research, business, and the local community.
At the regional level, economic development will be promoted by implementing the Smart Specialization Strategy (RIS3) developed by the European Union through value chains and smart specialization strategies. This is relevant for Latin America, where governments are currently trying to diversify their economies based on the commodities market.
In this context, personalities from these localities, such as mayors or secretaries of environment and economy, traveled to Brussels (Belgium) to attend, between November 9 and 10, the first meeting between selected participants from Latin America and Europe. Among the chosen cities are the Brazilian cities of Araripina, Belo Horizonte, Benedito Novo, Grande ABC Consortium, São Leopoldo, Vitória, and the Argentine cities of Buenos Aires, Rio Grande, Rosario, and San Justo, along with the regions of Bogotá-Cundinamarca (Colombia), Chihuahua (Mexico), and Cioeste Consortium (Brazil). All of them have expressed their desire and interest in being part of IUC-LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean).
The event officially introduced the different cities and regions, allowed them to meet their European counterparts, and defined the priority topics they would work on together over the next year. It also served as a meeting point for cities worldwide to present their experiences combating climate change, sustainable development, and innovation.
Representatives from the Committee of the Regions, the EU’s External Action Service, and the European Commission, particularly from the Directorates-General for Urban and Regional Policy, Climate Action, Environment, and the Foreign Policy Instruments Service, attended the meeting. It also included participation from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the European Investment Bank, UN Habitat. It invited cities such as Mannheim and Frankfurt (Germany), Chongqing (China), Montreal and Ottawa (Canada), Manchester (UK), Yokohama (Japan), Bologna Metropolitan Region (Italy), Almada (Portugal), and Malmö (Sweden). The Director of the IUC project, Dr. Manuel Fuentes, and his team also actively participated in the event.
The Brazilian cities of Salvador and Belo Horizonte and the Argentine cities of Godoy Cruz, Bell Ville, San Carlos Sud, and Rosario later attended the COP 23 summit, one of the world’s most essential summits on combating climate change. Organized by the United Nations Framework Convention, it will take place in Bonn (Germany) from November 6 to 17 and address some of the main challenges we face today. Specifically, the conference will address three main aspects: first, the foundations for continuing to implement the Paris Agreement will be discussed; equally, given that climate change is already a reality that requires immediate action, different ways to strengthen the adaptation and financing capacities of the most vulnerable countries will be studied; finally, efforts will continue to achieve the participation of civil society and businesses.
About IUC
The International Urban Cooperation Program (IUC) aims to support cities in different regions of the world to connect and share solutions for everyday problems in sustainable urban development within the framework of the New Urban Agenda and the fight against Climate Change. The European Union initiative revolves around three main axes: city-to-city cooperation that will provide a platform for knowledge exchange and best practices on specific urban development, the establishment of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, and for Latin America, a program of exchanges between regions to stimulate regional economic development through innovation, competitiveness, and smart specialization.
About IUC-LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean)
This is the Latin America and the Caribbean chapter of the IUC Global program. With a budget of over 5 million euros and a duration of three years, 20 cities from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Peru will be selected, and 20 regions from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, and Peru for collaborations with their European counterparts. The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy will be established in 20 countries in the region.
