9th Africities Summit postponed to April 2022
Rabat, Morocco (PANA) - The Pan-African Organization of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG-Africa) on Thursday announced that the 9th edition of the Africities Summit (Africities 9), initially scheduled for November 16 to 20, 2021, in Kisumu, Kenya, has been postponed to April 26-30, 2022.
The organization said in a statement that the government of Kenya has requested the postponement of the Summit because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which is affecting the country, like other nations of the world, indicating, however, the venue of the Summit and its theme: "The role of Africa's intermediate cities in the implementation of the UN's Agenda 2030 and the African Union's Agenda 2063", will be maintained.
Kisumu is the very first intermediate city to host the Africities Summit, said the statement, recalling that the last edition, Africities 8, organized in Marrakech, Morocco, in November 2018, had recorded an attendance of 8,300 participants from 79 countries, including 52 African countries.
The Africities summit is the largest democratic gathering organized on the African continent, the statement said, adding that this summit brings together every three years, ministers, mayors and leaders of local authorities, representatives of civil society and the private sector, academia and research, national, regional and international financial institutions, development partners, among others.
The Africities summit offers a unique platform for dialogue on the role of local authorities on the development and unity of Africa and on the place of decentralization in improving the governance of public affairs in Africa, finally noted the document.
-0- PANA AT/IN/JSG/KND/VAO 5Feb2021
