PRESS RELEASE
Global Parliament of Mayors
Durban, South Africa – Mayor Peter Kurz of Mannheim (Germany), Steve Benjamin of Columbia SC (USA), Grace Mary Mugasa of Hoima (Uganda) and Ricardo Rio of Braga (Portugal) are the new Daily Board members of the Global Parliament of Mayors (GPM).
At GPM’s Annual General Meeting in Durban, South Africa, Mayor Kurz has been appointed as Chair, Mayor Benjamin as 1st Vice Chair, Mayor Mugasa as 2nd Vice Chair and Mayor Rio as Treasurer of the GPM. The Daily Board is in charge of the daily governance of the Global Parliament of Mayors and part of the Executive Committee which is the primary executive body of the GPM. Daniel Termont, former Mayor of Ghent, Belgium and former President EUROCITIES, has been appointed as Honorary Member.
The other members of the GPM Executive Committee are Mayor Leoluca Orlando (Palermo, Italy), Mayor Marvin Rees (Bristol, UK), Mayor Jefferson Koijee (Monrovia, Liberia) and Mayor Baikuntha Nath Neupan (Vyas, Nepal).
Chair Mayor Kurz said “It is an honor to chair the Global Parliament of Mayors, together with my fellow Daily Board colleagues from the USA, Uganda and Portugal. National leaders and their international organizations are insufficiently addressing our key global challenges, many of which are most directly experienced and felt at the local level. The traditional institutions and frameworks of global governance must evolve to reflect the centrality of cities to solving these challenges. The GPM offers a complementary governance approach to the current political of national states.”
The GPM is a unique governance body of, by, and for mayors from all continents. It functions as a parliament and brings cities to the world fore. The GPM unites, aligns, and amplifies the voices of mayors in global strategy debates with nation states and international organisations, such as the UN.
Members of the Global Parliament are the mayors of Amman (Jordan), Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Banjul (The Gambia), Beira (Mozambique), Bern (Switzerland), Braga (Portugal), Bristol (UK), Cape Town (South Africa), Columbia (USA), Dakar (Senegal), Durban (South Africa), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Gagra (Pakistan), Dayton (USA), Ghent (Belgium), Gjilan (Kosovo), Hebron (Palestine), Hoima (Uganda), Itahari (Nepal), Janjanbureh (the Gambia), Kandahar (Afghanistan), Le Port (Reunion Island), Leicester (UK), Mannheim (Germany), Monrovia (Liberia), Nebbi (Uganda), Nijmegen (the Netherlands), Nkongsamba (Cameroon), Palermo (Italy), Pilar (Argentine), Puli Alam (Afghanistan), Utrecht (the Netherlands), Rochester Hills (USA), Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Soma Town (The Gambia), Stavanger (Norway), The Hague (the Netherlands), and Vyas (Nepal).
More information
See enclosed photo, from left to right: GPM 1st Vice Chair Mayor Steve Benjamin (Columbia, USA), GPM Chair Mayor Kurz (Mannheim, Germany), GPM 2nd Vice Chair Mayor Mugasa (Hoima, Uganda) and GPM Treasurer Mayor Ricardo Rio (Braga, Portugal). For general information on the GPM: see www.globalparliamentofmayors.org. If you have further questions, please contact Caroline Schep, Executive Director Global Parliament of Mayors Secretariat mobile: +31 6 220163 23 email: gpm@denhaag.nl.