Braga/The Hague, November – At the Annual Summit 2019 of the Global Parliament of Mayors (GPM), Mayor Ricardo Rio (Braga, Portugal) presented Braga as model for the creation of the 1st International Talent Hub in 2020, as part of the ‘GPM Talent Cities Programme’.
“Cities now need active policies to promote and retain talent and Braga is committed to creating an international talent hub to attract new cities to this initiative, but also to leverage Braga’s economic structure and all existing talent in the city,” said Mayor Rio to an audience of mayors during his presentation on the Talent Cities project.
Mayor Rio explained what has been done in Braga in the area of talent, namely the effort to include all partners in this project, from companies, public institutions and universities and to meet the needs of the people. With this strong foundation, Braga will continue to innovate new approaches in the area of talent development serving as a global model.
Rio also demonstrated that the choice of Braga to constitute the first international GPM Talent Cities ecosystem was logical, as it is the consequence of what has already been done in Braga in terms of attracting and retaining talent, namely through InvestBraga. “In an era when cities compete with each other to attract the best, mayors have an obligation to put all partners at the same table and discuss and implement solutions to succeed,” said Mayor Rio.
Braga as the first international GPM Talent Cities Hub will support and facilitate a community of partners and sister cities on a regional, national and international level, to match the gaps and the potential of talent readiness. It will contribute to the creation of a healthy and interdependent society and economy that has the strength to grow and fulfil the opportunities of the future.
GPM Talent Cities is a project of the Global Parliament of Mayors, a governance body for, of and by mayors. Through city leadership and self-governance mayors take responsibility to ensure equity, sustainability and inclusion in their cities, including optimizing talent opportunities for all citizens efficiently and effectively.
Since 2018 Mayor Rio is member of the Global Parliament of Mayors, and appointed as Treasurer and member of the GPM Daily Board at the GPM Annual Summit in November 2019.
More information:
– GPM Talent Cities programme – Mayor’s talent (PDF)
– Gerri Burton, CEO New Learning Ventures/project leader GPM Talent Cities Programme, gsburton@newlearningventures.com, +1 (914)471-6883.
– Caroline Schep, Executive Director GPM Secretariat, caroline.schep@denhaag.nl, +31 (0)6 22 01 63 23