On Monday 16 July, European local and regional leaders met at the Local and Regional Governments’ Forum, the key event that brought local and regional voices together at the High-Level Political Forum in New York (USA).

Local and regional voices at the High-Level Political Forum are particularly strong. They are contributing to the review of SDG 11 on Sustainable Cities and Communities, and have already convened at the Local and Regional Governments’ Forum, an official HLPF special event.

This forum highlighted the experiences of local and regional governments in implementing the SDGs, and explored how they can use SDG 11 as a central lever for achieving all other goals. Here and throughout the HLPF, local leaders have stressed the importance of localizing the implementation of the SDGs in order to achieve Agenda 2030.

ICLEI, which shares the position that implementation must be localized, is represented by key local leaders, from across Europe, speaking at the Local and Regional Governments’ Forum. These leaders include: Ashok Sridharan, Mayor of Bonn (Germany) and President of ICLEI, Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona (Spain), Michael Müller, Mayor of Berlin (Germany), Peter Kurz, Mayor of Mannheim (Germany), Roland Ries, Mayor of Strasbourg (France), and María Ángeles Elorza, Secretary for External Relations, Basque Country, Spain and co-host of the European Sustainable Cities and Towns Platform.

The High Level Political Forum will continue until Wednesday, July 18, 2018. To see the full schedule of ICLEI’s engagement at the High-Level Political Forum, click here.

For more information, click here.