21 October, 2021 – The annual summit of the Global Parliament of Mayors (GPM) 2021, took place for the first time in Italy, hosted by the City and Metropolitan City of Palermo with Mayor Leoluca Orlando, co-founding the GPM. The work took place from 21-23 October 2021 at the Sala Diana in Palazzo Sant’Elia.
“The city of Palermo has participated in the founding of the Global Parliament of Mayors since its first steps and today hosts the annual meeting after the cities of Amsterdam, Den Haag, Stavanger, Bristol and Durban,” says Mayor Leoluca Orlando. “An extraordinary opportunity – he continues – to confirm the interdependence and cooperation between cities from all continents. A stimulus, a call, a contribution to make our cities more lively, attractive and welcoming in a global village that overcomes borders and walls to create a community of people as different as they are equal”.
The event, that normally gathers more than 150 mayors from all over the world, will be presented for the 2021 edition in an interactive hybrid form and will bring together mayors, city networks and international experts to discuss city leadership and major global challenges at the local level. GPM President Peter Kurz, Mayor of Mannheim, will be present in Palermo along with a dozen colleagues from Europe and around the world, as well as a delegation of mayors from Nigeria. Around 60 mayors will participate online.
The main theme of the summit is post-pandemic recovery: “The future is now, global challenges need to be addressed as the weight of recovery, transition and renewal led by city mayors as a driver for change“. Climate change and the relationship with Africa regarding migration caused by this phenomenon will be central focuses during the meeting. The summit highlighted the role of cities as a prerequisite for success in tackling global issues, new forms of city leadership and multilateral governance. As every year, the winner of the prize named after the American political scientist Benjamin Barber, who died in 2017, will be announced and a plaque will be dedicated to him.
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