Ilsur Metshin took part in the meeting of the UCLG World Council in Hangzhou

(KZN.RU, December 8). Today at a meeting of the UCLG World Council in Hangzhou, Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, spoke with a report on how the World Organization “United Cities and Local Governments” should work and what tasks are of the highest priority. The president of the Eurasian branch of the organization noted the importance of the practices’ exchange between cities. “The opportunity to have ready-made experience of solving a particular problem in the field of municipal economy, planning, development, and finance at an arm's end is an opportunity to have an active exchange of experience, one of our most important tasks”, he said, citing the example of successfully implemented and borrowed practices.

According to I. Metshin, the priority task facing the UCLG is an active participation in localizing the goals of sustainable development of the UN, adapting their tasks on the spot and determining priorities for each region. The UCLG member cities shouldn’t forget about the “roots”, those for whom the municipalities work. “We are obliged to work as much as possible on the field, on which the residents of cities walk. We must not float high in the clouds at the UN level”, he believes.

The president of the Eurasian branch of the organization drew attention to the fact that the spheres of interests of cities and their mayors are formed depending on their size, territorial location, financing, and involvement in international processes. Problems that have long been resolved in large cities or in developed countries are only now coming to the fore in other regions or in small and medium-sized cities. “Sometimes it's enough just to talk with each other to solve the issue, over which some mayors have long been troubled”, said Ilsur Metshin. He urged “to share the developments generously”, which will speed up the development of cities.

As an example, he cited the Eurasian office headed by him where the special attention is paid to the best practices of cities. Bogota's experience turned out to be useful in solving the transport problems of Kazan. In particular, a separate lane for the movement of public transport was allocated, in addition, the Mayor of Bogota, who visited Kazan, shared the experience of solving problems with traffic jams. Paris studied with interest the experience of Kazan in the application campaigns for the right to hold major sporting events.

Ilsur Metshin expressed confidence that the UCLG is not an organization for the mayors but for the population. So the recognition of the organization is important at all levels from national to global. “Disparate voices will not be heard a priori. We need to talk about ourselves, not in a low whisper but loudly declaring our capabilities and the results already achieved”, said the president of the European branch of the organization.

He urged to increase the degree of people's involvement in the UCLG projects. The head of the capital of the RT told what active participation Kazan citizens took in the discussion of programs for the city, parks, and squares. “I would very much like to see the same degree of involvement of society and experts in the activities of the UCLG”, said the Mayor of Kazan.

“We live at a time when the head of everything is information and timely exchange. We must direct our efforts to disseminate information within the organization about best practices and ways of interaction and outwardly about our work, tasks, and opportunities. I see the future of the UCLG as that the activities of our organization are always talked about”.

For reference

The World Organization “United Cities and Local Governments” is a voluntary international merger of associations, unions, and individual municipal entities, established in 2004 to effectively implement the citizens' rights to local self-government. The UCLG is the most powerful and influential structure in the sphere of strengthening the interaction of local self-government bodies, their representation at the international level and the implementation of democratic principles. For today, the UCLG unites more than 10 thousand cities and associations of the world and represents more than half of the population of the planet. The UCLG consists of 7 regional offices.