Sheikh Hamdan inaugurates Euro-Arab Cities Forum
Meeting aims at establishing partnership among towns

February 10 ^th,, 2008
Dubai
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai Minister of Finance and Industry and Chairman of Dubai Municipality, inaugurated the two-day Euro-Arab Cities Forum today in Dubai.

The inaugural ceremony, which was held at the Madinat Jumeirah, was attended by a number of dignitaries, including Saeed Al Kindi, Minister of Environment, Dr. Hanif Hassan, Minister of Education, Engineer Hussein Nasser Lootah, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality, Jasim Mohammed bin Darwish, Director General of UAE Municipalities, Abdul Aziz Al-Adasani, Secretary General of the Arab Towns Organisation and municipality chiefs from a number of Arab and European countries.

In his inaugural address, Sheikh Hamdan welcomed the participants in the forum and conveyed to them greetings from UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, wishing the forum great success.

He expressed the hope that the meeting would come out with positive results which would meet the aspirations of all participating countries. He assured the gathering of the UAE’s unflinching support and commitment to ensure the success of the meeting which seeks to achieve the good interest of brotherly and friendly societies, in accordance with the UAE’s foreign policy and the government’s open door strategy.

Sheikh Hamdan said the geographical location of the Arab world near Europe has made trade and educational activities, as well as interactions between the peoples from the two sides easy. This, he said, is also in view of the nearly identical features of European and Arab societies in many areas, adding that by holding this forum, the UAE wishes to strengthen these areas of similarity, establish real partnership and keep moving on in various areas in view of the existence of many encouraging factors of success.

He said the Arab world and Europe are partners in financial, trade and energy relations which can be boosted further with each side offering what it has in terms of resources - human, mineral or technical resources. He expressed the hope that the forum would spur the sharing of ideas and information on issues of mutual interest and boost the mutual integration drive.

The Dubai deputy Ruler pointed out that the forum was a golden opportunity for discussions and dialogue. He thanked the organisers of the forum and urged the participants to engage in “positive dialogue that would produce recommendations, which would serve the interest of our towns and communities.”

Soon after Sheikh Hamdan’s address, a documentary film on the phases of development of Dubai city was shown. The film highlighted some mega projects in Dubai, including the Burj Dubai, the Palm Island, the World, the Burj Al Arab Hotel and many others, which manifested the vision of the country’s leadership and the daily follow-up of these developments by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum flanked by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince.

Khalid Mahmoud Alloush, UNDP Representative in the Gulf region, who also addressed the gathering, stressed on the need to give great attention to towns and cities in the light of great population rise in the world. He said the current population of the world is estimated at about 6.7 billion people, half of which are urban dwellers. He said by the year 2030, urban population will rise to about five billion people, about 80% of them in developing countries.

He pointed out that cities around the world are suffering from many problems, particularly in the areas of environment, poverty, insufficient water and land. He said there is the need for concerted efforts to find solutions to urban problems, adding that UN organisations in-charge of population development are calling for cooperation among governments to improve the administration of towns and improve the life of urban dwellers.

He cited a recommendation issued by the International Conference on Population and Development, which was held in 1994 and subsequent conferences and forums, which urged governments to boost their capabilities and deal efficiently with urban problems by involving the people in planning for their communities.

He said reports show that about 12% of urban dwellers have no access to portable water or good sewerage system. He urged the towns to tap the experience of each other in the area of judicious use of scant resources like water.

The address of the Arab League Secretary General, Amr Moussa was delivered by Mohammed Al-Khamleishi, Arab League Assistant Secretary General and Head of Information and Telecommunications Sector. He said the forum is working to achieve development and progress for Arab and European towns and to boost cooperation among these towns, away from any political influence which continues to be the bane of many political and non-political organisations.

“This forum is being held at a time when the world is witnessing an amazingly rapid move towards achieving cooperation among countries to establish various forms of economic integration and to share experience and expertise,” he said.

“In view of the above, the Euro-Arab Cities Forum, particularly, needs to closely study the phase it is currently going through, which, to us, represents a major turning point which would impact on the general development and modernisation process in the region - I mean the phase of democratic development which, first and foremost, means the right of the people to participate in the decision-making process and to contribute to the implementation of those decisions with all playing their part according to their capability and field of specialization,” he added.

He pointed out that the success achieved by the Emirate of Dubai, through Dubai Municipality – in terms of development prosperity for its inhabitants of all nationalities is a solid evidence of the great development efforts exerted on the various segments of the people, and not by limiting those efforts to the administrative leadership segment alone.  

“We are currently at the threshold of the twenty first century where the world is witnessing a major structural transformation, having ushered in the new world order, a system which is beginning to show its real features - a mixture of risks and hopes,” he stated.

“Although the polarisation of the world into two direct or indirect antagonising groupings is no more, the world continues to struggle to get rid of tension, conflicts and arms race. This has painted a gloomy picture of the future living condition in the Third World a situation which demands from the Euro-Arab Cities Forum the stepping-up dialogue among member countries in order to create an atmosphere of togetherness and cooperation among their peoples and promote positive reactions among their various factions and segments in order to turn their disagreement to agreement to help them achieve integration at the towns level,” he added.

He admitted that relations between Arabs and Europe had gone through some difficulties in the past, particularly on the Mediterranean basin, it has also witnessed periods of fruitful cooperation for their mutual interest. “The conference that we are holding today is part of the cooperation between Arab and European towns. This is nothing strange as it represents a continuation of the cooperation drive that had existed among the peoples of these towns. It is also in line with the Barcelona Declaration of 1995, which represents an important step towards enhancing relations among European and Mediterranean countries with the aim of building a foundation for a new form of Arab-Europe relations that would rise high to the level of real participation that aims at boosting peace and development within the framework of mutual respect,” he noted

He pointed out that the Arab League continues to be one of the major keen supporters of Euro-Mediterranean partnership since it was established. He said his outfit continues to actively participate in all conferences and forums that aim at boosting further this partnership

“I want to reiterate here that the existing cooperation between the Arab Towns Organisation and the Council of European Municipalities and Regions is a great success. This is evident in the forum we are holding here today with the active participation of town mayors, heads of municipalities and local government councils, who are in-charge of running the affairs of the local and regional councils, districts and institutions that play very important roles in achieving prosperity and stability for the inhabitants of those towns and translate into action all plans and programmes for their mutual interest.”

The Arab League Secretary General wished the meeting great success. He expressed the hope that relations between Arab and European towns would grow stronger and stronger “so that together we achieve peace, security, stability, progress and prosperity for Arab and European peoples.”

Halfdan Skadar, chairman of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities at the Council of Europe, who delivered an address on behalf of European towns, expressed profound gratitude to the UAE, in general and Dubai, in particular, for hosting the forum. He stressed on the importance of dialogue between Arab and European towns and for establishing of real partnership between them for their mutual interest.

The representatives of environment societies from the UAE, Syria and France made presentations about their environmental aspirations. They called for judicious use and conservation of water.

The two day forum is being organised, on the Arab side, by the Arab Towns Organisation (ATO), the Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI) and Dubai Municipality and, on the European side, by the Standing Committee for the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership of Local Authorities and Regions (COPPEM), Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities at the Council of Europe (CLARE). Etisalat is the official sponsor of the event.