Rome host of MDG Conference

Rome (Italy) will host the Local Governments’  International Mid Term Evaluation Conference on the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Conference will bring together mayors and other municipal representatives from some 20 cities to assess the contribution of local governments to meeting the MDGs by the 2015 deadline.

Under the theme “Running Out of Time”, the meeting will identify ways and actions through which cities and local government, individually and through their associations, and in partnership with civil society, central governments, the international community and the media, can provide a decisive contribution to achieving the MDGs.

Deputy Mayor of Rome, Ms Maria Pia Garavaglia, said, “Local governments have a key role to play in promoting the MDGs, as an expression of democracy that is close to the grassroots and often more credible than national governments.”

The Conference is being organized by the city of Rome, United Cities and Local Government (UCLG), the Millenium Campaign Voices Against Poverty, and the European Commission.

The 7^th Millenium Development Goal, known as MDG 7, is to ensure environmental sustainability. ICLEI is working with its international membership to achieve this goal through a number of its programs, including the Cities for Climate Protection^® and Water Campaigns, Local Action for Biodiversity, and solutions for sustainability management and sustainable procurement.  For more information on these activities, please visit the programs section of our website at www.iclei.org/index.php?id=global-programs.

Rome is one of 167 local governments in Europe that are currently Members of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. For more information on ICLEI and its activities in Europe, please visit www.iclei.org/europe.

Source:  “Inequality Undermines Development Goals”, Inter Press Service News Agency, 21 June 2007.

_{Photo author and license information found here.}