Opening Policy Debates: ‘Towards Tangier – Local Public Service Provision at the Heart of the Next Global Development Agenda: The Future of UCLG’, 17 oktober 2025

Dear mayors, dear colleagues and friends,

It is a true honor to open our Policy Debate today. Our gathering here, as we begin to walk the path towards our World Summit, is a call to renew our collective commitment to democracy, equality, and solidarity.

As local and regional leaders, we stand at the forefront of translating global principles into everyday realities. Together, through dialogue and shared purpose, we reaffirm that the strength of our communities and the vitality of our democracies depend on proximity, participation, and strong public services.

In that spirit, today we are taking a decisive step forward. To anchor our shared vision in a Local Social Covenant that serves as the foundation for a new social contract, and as the platform for a renewed, people-centered local multilateralism built from the territories upward.

The conversation that we have today is an invitation to renew our political commitment.  To defend what is common in the face of inequality. To demonstrate that democracy is built through proximity and sustained by strong public services.

To achieve that vision, our world organization must continue to evolve, to be even more fit for purpose, to deliver. From now until Tangier, we must align our structures with our ambition, and translate the strength of our cities and regions into concrete commitments that project a single voice: the voice of the world municipal movement.

Colleagues, this debate is not just another item on our agenda: it is an honest reflection about our role in the future of the world. Our role in delivering the future that our communities need. We are the level of government that shapes daily life, that turns rights into realities, that builds peace through proximity.

And today, more than ever, we need a new social contract from the territories. A pact that recognizes that the great global challenges, from inequality to the climate crisis, migration, and the eroding trust in institutions cannot be solved without local communities.

This is where the Covenant comes in.

The Local Social Covenant is not just a technical paper: It is a political platform for action that invites us to rethink multilateralism from the bottom up.  It proposes a new paradigm of local multilateralism, where cities and regions are not mere implementers of global decisions, but co-creators of global solutions. We do not ask for permission, but rather, we offer our knowledge, our commitment, our action, to the multilateral system.

This is what we understand by local multilateralism. From our territories, we are proving that cooperation can be closer, more inclusive, and more effective.  That democratic legitimacy is born from direct contact with citizens.  And that the values of solidarity, justice, and sustainability only become real when they are lived in neighborhoods, in municipalities, and in regions.

As we set our sights on our World Congress, we need to do so with this conviction in mind: that the future of multilateralism will be local.

And just as multilateralism depends on local action, the future of UCLG will be shaped by the strength and leadership of its cities and regions, projecting a single, collective voice on the global stage.

Thank you.