The mayor of Montevideo, Caroline Cossetraveled to Denver, United States, to participate in the Summit of Cities of the Americas and as president of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) spoke at the official opening in front of some 250 governors of American cities.
“Let’s work so that a profound transformative change in global investment flows can take place, so that we can develop policies and business models that tend to curb inequality. Let’s move forward. Perhaps it is time to review the national policies that hold back investment in subnational governments,” Cosse said in his speech.
in conversation with The Observerthe mayor said that what she expressed is “an almost unanimous feeling of cities worldwide” that have the problem of not being able to get investment due to lack of approval from national governments. “In almost all places there are regulations – and I understand that regulation – which means that at the end of the day, the final approval to access a loan is given by the national government,” said Cosse.
The mayor said that she “understands” that the regulations are like this because national governments “have to take care of their public accounts and maintain a balance” but that “It may also happen that there are other factors that stop that final authorization,” he said.
As an example in Uruguay, Cosse mentioned that the The Municipality of Montevideo requested a US$120 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in 2021 that was not approved by the national government. “The IM was in a position to face it but the Ministry of Economy and Finance asked us: ‘120 no, 70’,” he said.
According to Cosse, due to this regulation that “stops” investments to local governments, “In the international arena, all the financing agents, the multilateral banks, the private banks, the development agencies tell us that they want to give us credits but they cannot.”
The Summit and what it leaves for Montevideo
The theme of the Summit of Cities of the Americas is “Global challenges, local solutions”. The leaders of the governments of the cities of the continent will present and debate on topics such as the democracy, economic growth, migration, sustainability, resilience and social and equitable inclusion.
Cosse will participate between this Thursday and this Friday in a session on the role of local governments in migration, another on “local housing systems”, where Cosse will present on the panel “Building on the experience of the Cities for Adequate Housing Movement”.
The mayor of Montevideo will also participate in the discussion on the “incorporation of the gender perspective in urban policies” and in innovation in the provision of municipal services.
in dialogue with The ObserverCosse said that from this type of event “one does not take a folder, does not take a material issue”, however, he considered that his participation in the Summit benefits Montevideo because the IM delegation “takes the possibility of opening doors of financing and collaboration.”
This Wednesday, before the start of the Summit, Cosse was in a meeting with the IDB, along with other city governments. According to him, “the day with the IDB was marked by new ways of financing, sharing our problems, listening to how a city is solving a problem, electric mobility is a topic that prevails“.
