3 May 2022 – Today mayors came together with high-level representatives of the German G7 Presidency to discuss the decisive role of cities in achieving the G7 Presidency’s vision of “progress towards an equitable world.” Mayors lauded the German G7 Presidency’s emphasis on the need for an ambitious implementation of the sustainable development goals and welcomed the recognition of cities, sustainable urban development, and multi-level governance in the program of the G7 Presidency 2022. However, mayors also noted that the global political system must change in order for cities’ full potential to be realized. Mayors also adopted a Mayor’s Declaration, which presented cities’ demands and commitments toward the G7 Presidency. The GPM, together with ICLEI and the Urban7 Group Alliance, consisting of the Association of German Cities, hosted the U7 Mayors Summit with the theme “Embracing the Urban World: Cities as Drivers of Change for Peace, Democracy, and Sustainability.”
Peter Kurz, Mayor of Mannheim (Germany), Chair of the Global Parliament of Mayors, and G7 special envoy of the Association of German Cities remarked: “The Urban7 welcomes the unprecedented recognition of the importance of cities, urban development, and multi-level governance in the G7 Presidency Programme. We see this as a historic opportunity. However, the transformative power of cities to address major global challenges, as invoked in the Programme, can only be harnessed if the global political system changes to truly include cities, viewing them not primarily at an administrative implementation level, but at a political level in their own right, co-developing policy programs on an equal footing.”
Click here for the U7 Press Release “City Leaders from G7 Nations Convene at U7 Mayors Summit and Adopt Powerful Declaration”