3rd Euro-Arab Cities Forum

Dubai, 10-11 February 2008

Speech by President Halvdan Skard, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe

Mr Chairman,

Excellencies,

Distinguished representatives of Euro-Arab towns, of Associations and International Organizations, Ladies and Gentlemen,

May I first of all express my best thanks and appreciation to Their Highnesses the rulers and the Municipality of Dubai for hosting this very important Euro-Arab Cities Forum, in this charming and astonishing town.

I have been given the honour to address this statement on behalf of the European organizers of the Forum: the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, of which I am President; the Council of European Municipalities and Regions; and the Standing Committee for the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership of Local Authorities and Regions.

They all, in close and friendly cooperation with the Municipality of Dubai, the Arab Towns Organization and the Arab Urban Development Institute, since November 2005 started preparatory meetings for the arrangement of this Forum.

This is the best evidence of how the constant and firm efforts of a good team of organizers can result in the present major event, which is full of meaning and very promising for the future prosperous coexistence of the European and Arab civil societies.

In an era of globalization which we are living in, in a vast area of our common planet marked by different traditions,  policies and religions, the dialogue and the mutual understanding between our people must be necessarily reinforced, to aim together at coping with economic and social unbalance and reducing poverty and settling conflicts.

In the second half of the last century, our cities went through profound historic, political and economic transformations, including the city which welcomes us today. Today, we are talking about the rebirth of city power – the power of a place where democracy began. Looking at history before nation-states, we see the history of city states, such as Rome, Athens or Alexandria, to name but a few. Today, the City is rising again, and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in particular is very much involved in the emerging trend of City Diplomacy, the cities as actors in their own right on the international stage.

We are called here to consider these transformations, to enlarge our awareness of what and how has happened, and to realize that through a comparison and a joining of interests and plans, we can build a harmonious future for our communities. We have to start and to improve a dynamic activity capable of producing synergies between our specific traditions, based on shared humanist values, which will sustain a coherent development in both in Europe and the Arab world. In this regard, the current efforts of local and regional authorities to reinforce intercultural and interreligious dialogue at local level are very important and already produced twelve principles for local authorities, approved by the Council of Europe Congress. Needless to say, we invite our counterparts in the Arab world to become involved in these efforts, and we stand ready to share our experience in this regard.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am sure that I will be expressing the will and the wish of all of us, who are coming from very distant places, for getting back home enriched with new ideas and the motivation to build upon our discussions following the end of this Forum.

In this light, today and tomorrow the highest-level representatives of our towns will focus on main subjects, and we expect that the foundation will be laid for a long-term consultation and cooperation that we would like to design and test during the next biennium, in order to present achieved steps forward and further plans for cooperation at a next Forum in a European city in the year 2010.

Indeed, the exchange of experiences and projects for local governance, examples of best practices, city transport and urban planning, urban environment protection and water resources, financial needs and investments, cultural heritage and tourism, are the challenging issues that we will be debating during these two days.

We have in our cities fundamental examples of strength, coherence to our past and fantasy to face our future, that make us optimistic in our capability to jointly step up a process towards follow-ups beneficial to our cities and all of our citizens. In this respect, the Congress and its partner organisations on behalf of which I am addressing you today represent excellent cooperation platforms for Arab organisations, as they bring together local and regional authorities from all across Europe and because they are equipped with a panoply of legal instruments – our acquis in the field of local and regional democracy – not least the European Charter of Local Self-Government, from which Arab organisations can draw their inspiration.

Moreover, I would like to stress our deep conviction that the work which we are going to do for the strengthening of the social, cultural and economic cooperation among our cities will make a valuable contribution to the cause of peace.

Eventually, I would like to conclude by a few words that sound very pertinent in this event:

There can be no development without local development, giving every citizen a better quality of life, in the same way that there can be no democracy without local democracy involving all citizens. 

I wish you all a fruitful work.

Thank you.