30/10/2006
Around 1,000 participants, including 500 mayors from cities around the world, will attend the two-day International Conference of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), which starts on Monday (October 30th) in Marrakech. They will discuss ways of fostering peaceful cultural co-existence.
The meetings will be chaired by UCLG President and Paris Mayor Bertrand Delano, Quito Mayor Paco Moncayo Gallegos and Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, councillor of Tshwane, South Africa. Frederico Mayor Zaragosa, the Spanish co-Chair of the UN high-level panel on the Alliance of Civilizations, will attend one of the opening sessions on the role of local governments in overcoming social and cultural barriers through dialogue. He will brief participants on the report he will present to the UN by the end of this year on the Alliance of Civilisations, initiated by Turkey and Spain in September 2004. (Council of Europe website)