NEWS

         

Marrakesh City Council, FMDV (Global Fund for Cities Development) and UCLG Africa (United Cities and Local Governments of Africa) have chosen to mobilize African local and regional authorities and their partners, to attend the Summit for the Financing of African cities, « Financing African Cities:Agenda, Alliances and Solutions » on December, 11^th and 12^th.

Organized for the first time in Morocco, hosted by Marrakech City Council, this exceptional thematic conference represents the unmissable gathering of both local and national policy-makers, and public opinion leaders from African economic and financial world. Download the program here.

Beyond the identification of issues and constraints to finance African cities, the meeting will portray the diversification of economic and financial mechanisms available to local authorities. The conference will question the quality of the partnerships that have been built, or to be developed between political, technical, economic and financial stakeholders. It will therefore demonstrate decisive financial innovations for the continent.

After two days of discussions and proposals, the Declaration of the Marrakesh REsolutions will be adopted to be a real manifesto of the African development Stakeholders.

As part of “REsolutions to Fund Cities” worldwide campaign, Marrakesh Summit will enrich the plea in favor of inclusive and sustainable urban development funding. It will be raised in the debates on the adoption of a Post 2015 New Development Agenda, and up until the United Nations’ Habitat III Summit, in 2016.

Supported by all the majors of development stakeholders, the conference constitutes a remarkable opportunity to bring together almost 250 participants, including: African local governments’ representatives, Ministers of Finance, heads of central administration, stock exchanges, regional/national financial institutions, economic operators from public, private and social economy sectors (See full list of speakers attached to the press release).

Plenary sessions and round tableswill punctuate these two days, by exploring the entire “urban development financing chain” through: planning urban investments, increasing value and mobilizing the endogenous resources (local taxation and land valuation), accessing loans through international and regional donors, specialized financial institutions and private banks present on the continent, accessing the market of capitals, public-private partnerships, and innovative financing mechanisms.

At the same time, several side-events, parallel meetings and a “Bank of Opportunity” will enable local authorities to first present their development projects to economic and financial stakeholders and then discuss innovative financial, economic or strategic solutions.

On December 10^th, upstream of the conference, a training seminar on credit rating will bring together members of the Chief Financial Officers’ Network “AfricaFiNet”, in the framework of the program hosted by UCLG Africa. The aim of “AfricaFiNet” is to improve the recognition of these professionals as a decision support for local elected officials, and to also improve their skills and areas of cooperation.

About the co-organizers

The FMDV is an operational network bringing together the local authorities (cities and regions) and their partners around the diversification of economic and financial solutions for a sustainable urban development. The FMDV regional office for Africa is hosted by UCLG Africa.

www.fmdv.net

UCLG Africa is the regional section for United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG), bringing together 40 national associations of local authorities in all regions of Africa, as well as 2000 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

www.uclgafrica.org

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