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Dialogue between Arab and European towns: presentation of the priorities of the Dubai Forum

Strasbourg, 08.01.2008 - The Forum of Euro-Arab Towns, which is designed to contribute to a new dialogue in pursuit of development, is to be held in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) on 10 and 11 February 2008. The programme of the Forum and the political, economic and social considerations that prompted it will be presented in Rome, Italy, on Friday 11 January at 10.30 am  (Sala degli Arazzi, Campidoglio), in the presence of the President of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress, Ian Micallef.

The Forum is being organised jointly by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, the Arab Towns Organization (ATO), the Standing Committee for the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership of Local and Regional Authorities (COPPEM), the Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI) and the Municipality of Dubai.

Participants include representatives of 120 European and Arab towns and of numerous international organisations and bodies (the EU Committee of the Regions, the World Bank, the WWF, the United Nations and the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly).  The initiative is based on the shared idea that there can be no development if there is no local development capable of offering every citizen an improved quality of life. Moreover, there is no such thing as democracy without local democracy involving all citizens.

The Forum was preceded by two Conferences of Euro-Arab Towns, in Marrakesh, Morocco, in October 1988 and Valencia, Spain, in September 1994.  These took place as a result of the friendship and co-operation agreement between Arab and European towns signed in Valencia in 1984.