A one-day workshop was held in Barcelona the 9^th of June bringing together UPFI project promoters, donors and the consultant teams in charge, in order to discuss on UPFI process advancements and prospects. The Urban Project Finance Initiative (UPFI) is one of the pillars of the Euro-Mediterranean Sustainable Urban Development Strategy.

Arlem,the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly, has also asked for the collaboration of Medcities in the elaboration of a capacity building project on urban development in the Mediterranean region. This project includes eight flagship projects, mainly in those cities that are beneficiaries of UPFI. The Director of ARLEM and the General Secretary of Medcities presented the advancement of this project focusing on objectives, expected results, methodology and foreseen actions.

The purpose of the UPFI is to identify and select sustainable and innovative urban development projects that offer bottom-up, regionally replicable solutions to the major urban development challenges facing the region of the technical assistance phase for project preparation.

Under the umbrella of the UfM Secretariat, the UPFI is managed by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), with the support of the European Commission. The KfW Development Bank, the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Finnish Cooperation are closely associated, while other IFIs and investors have expressed their interest.

To read more about the event, please visit their website .

For more information of UPFI program and the collaboration of MedCities, please have a look on:

• Working Group on Urban Development
• Sustainable Urban Development in the Mediterranean: UfM launches the Urban Projects Finance Initiative (UPFI)