The hierarch gave an interview to Radio La R’s Panorama 1410 program, and spoke about various topics on Monday 28, including the XXVII Mercocities Summit, an event that will take place from Tuesday 29 to next Thursday, December 1, inclusive.
At the opening, the singer-songwriter and composer Ruben Rada will give a show at the Teatro de Verano. Twelve indigenous cities participate in this summit, making up a network that is rated as the most important on the continent, reaching 364 cities from 10 countries on the continent: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay and Venezuela. . Registration for the Summit is open, and more information can be accessed on the website https://cumbremontevideo.uy.
Goyeneche explained what this activity consists of. “There is a lot of history in Mercociudades and all of its history has to do with Montevideo. In this city, the internationalization process began more than 30 years ago, in the municipal government of Tabaré Vázquez, and the person who led the start of this process and also the founding of ercociudades, was none other than Belén Herrera, a national and international reference in so many topics”, he pointed out.
He added that “also in regional and global integration, in what has to do with local governments that have their own agenda, which is neither exclusive nor contradictory to national foreign policy, but is a reflection of what the decentralization and autonomy of departmental governments, which also work internationally. And 27 years ago, the initiative was taken for the cities that are part of the countries that make up Mercosur, to have their own agenda and their possibility of influencing regional integration issues”.
For Goyeneche, the Uruguayan capital was not only in the leadership of the initiative, but was also a gravitational center of this entire process, due to the fact that the Mercosur headquarters itself resides in Montevideo, and in fact is located in a building that belongs to the Municipality of Montevideo. “Although it has been on loan for many years, and for several more years, and in that building today multiple international organizations, and also due to the fact, for example, that Montevideo has the headquarters of the embassies, of the consulates. It was always a point of a lot of international activity”, he explained.
“This process began with the question, how do we Mercosur cities to work internationally, to collaborate with each other? This governance scheme was put together with a presidency, several thematic vice-presidencies, and to this day there is a permanent technical secretariat, which is the one that coordinates the operation regardless of who is temporarily in the presidency that lasts one year. And this Technical Secretariat is within the International Relations Division of the Municipality of Montevideo”, he said.
The summit will be based on three fundamental axes: environmental cities, care cities and innovative cities. “We chose these three issues because they are the three issues that we are prioritizing on the entire international agenda. Wherever we go, we connect for a reason. Much of the international relations work, and particularly at the beginning of this administration, during the worst part of the pandemic, is done virtually or by telephone, and also everything we seek to bring revolves around to these three topics”, explained the guest. Goyeneche explained that “Because they are the issues that permeate all the public policy that Montevideo develops from the ABC Plan, which works for equality, which works, which raises issues of work, territory, health and also from the Montevideo strategy more green, which has prioritized environmental issues. For all of them we develop innovation”.
During the next two days there will be meetings of thematic units, in which different working groups on social development and health, environment and innovation will participate. These thematic units are going to be having meetings of their technicians to work together. Even There are two seminars, two dialogues on Tuesday, one on innovation and the other on care and equality.
Goyeneche also pointed out that Thursday the 1st is the assembly -during the morning-, which is the moment in which the presidency of the network will be assumed. Several agreements will be signed with international organizations that commit Montevideo to leading the process of linking city frameworks with these organizations. Some bilateral agreements with cities that have a particular interest in working with Montevideo. The next presidency will also be chosen, the one that will hold the presidency during 2024. “There is a great expectation that the next presidency will probably be Sao Paulo,” he said.
In line with the theme, the municipal official explained that “there is an agenda that raises these issues because they are the key issues for the present and for the future. The pandemic made it very clear that cities were absolutely at the forefront of addressing this health and social emergency situation. This happened all over the world. Without the mayors, mayors and mayors, the challenge would have been much bigger. So there you can see the role that cities have in caring, in the broadest sense”
The Director of the International Relations Division added that “We usually associate it and because we work deeply on that, with gender equality and with reversing gender roles and seeing that care is the co-responsibility of all. But also from other approaches to how we care for people with disabilities, the elderly, and children. Also how we take care of the planet”.
2nd. Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development
The Thematic Unit for the Environment and Sustainable Development (UTADS) will hold its second meeting during the XXVII Summit of Mercociudades in Montevideo, with the special participation of initiatives and international organizations linked to climate action in cities. This will be during tomorrow Wednesday the 30th.
Representatives of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM Americas), ICLEI South America, the organization Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the Vice Presidency of Sustainable Urban Development and Climate Change, the executive secretary of Mercociudades, as well as representatives of various local governments of the Network.
