Last Thursday and Friday, 4-5 October, MedCities celebrated its Annual Conference, this year held in Barcelona.

Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona and President of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, opened the conference and participated in a round table with the mayors of Montpellier, Tripoli (Lebanon) and Tunis. Alfred Bosch, Vice-President of International Relations and Cooperation of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, closed the day of debate along with the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Nasser Kamel.

The theme of the conference was « Mediterranean cities: sustainable and equitable for all », and the discussion brought together mayors and other political representatives from around 40 Mediterranean cities and metropolitan areas, along with representatives of international organisations, other public administrations and NGOs.

Among the issues addressed by the participants were the need to integrate the unique perspectives of cities and metropolitan governments with international agendas for urban development and the key role played by city-to-city cooperation in confronting shared challenges and disseminating best practices.

On 5 October, MedCities held its General Assembly, which this year elected the Board of Directors of the Association for the period 2019-22. Tetouan, represented by Mayor Mohamed Idaomar, was re-elected to the role of President of MedCities. Tetouan will be joined on the Board of Directors by As-Salt, Al Fayhaa, Dubrovnik, Larnaka, Izmir, Marseille, the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona and Sfax.

More information about the 2018 Annual Conference, including a collection of the speeches made at the event, can be found here.