Toespraak opening vergadering World Council UCLG, 17 oktober 2025
Dear members,
Welcome to the World Council Session.
You have all received the agenda of this meeting in advance and I would like to propose that my introductory speech addresses the Presidency report (included under Item 2).
Distinguished members, colleagues, partners, and friends,
It is a privilege to stand before you today, as we gather to reflect on an extraordinary year of achievements, challenges, and forward-looking ambitions.
Dear friends, in 2025, we have advocated for a world in which local and regional governments, and the communities that they represent, are a part of the decision-making table to bring about transformation.
We have also listened to, and built strengthened partnerships with the international community in key policy priorities built around People, Planet and Governments.
In 2025, the international landscape remains complex and ever-evolving.
Amid this uncertainty, our collective voice as local and regional governments has grown stronger and more united.
Our constituency renews its call for a new global social contract grounded in local realities, co-creation, and solidarity.
Placing care, proximity, and democratic renewal at the heart of sustainable development.
The focus on care, people-centred planning, and a feminist way of doing politics that has been guiding our work for years has remained central this year.
This year has once again shown how important it is to put our communities at the centre of decision-making.
The Fourth Financing for Development Conference, held in Seville, made that very clear.
During the World Assembly held as part of the conference, we reaffirmed that public investment, care systems, and the protection of common goods must be at the heart of a renewed global financial architecture.
One built on democracy, proximity, and sustainability.
Our collective impact was also reflected in the Seville Outcome Document, which includes a specific paragraph on subnational finance.
But this is only a beginning.
Recognition is not enough.
We need structural change, with participatory country platforms, easier access to finance for local and regional governments, and a truly inclusive multilevel governance system.
Dear friends: Next year is, as we all know, a Congress year.
This Congress year will not only be a year for our own governance, it will also be the year of local multilateralism.
The 100 days of local multilateralism that we are envisioning next year, that encompass our World Summit, but also the 13th World Urban Forum and the High-Level Political Forum, among other milestones.
Our Congress will be the centre of these 100 days, and at the heart of our Congress will be our Local Social Covenant.
A political space of shared commitments between local and regional governments, organized civil society, and stakeholders.
This is what the Local Social Covenant stands for: building on the Pact for the Future adopted in Daejeon, and empowering us to deliver a better world for our people.
In 2025, UCLG has continued to expand its reach and impact through innovative programmes and strategic alliances.
The Youth Climate Action Fund, developed with Bloomberg Philanthropies, is now active in cities across every region, empowering young leaders to drive local climate solutions.
Our partnership with UN Women and the European Commission on the Women and Youth in Democracy and Civic Engagement programme continues to nurture new generations of local changemakers committed to equality and inclusion.
This year, we have also continued to advance our work on voluntary local and regional reviews, an essential way for cities and regions to track and share their progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Through the fourth global gathering on this topic, we have strengthened our collective capacity to rethink how progress is measured and understood.
Our research efforts remained focused on the GOLD 7 multimedia journal, guided by our shared conviction that inequality is not an option.
The report, centred on the economies of equality and care, completed its first phase this year.
Earlier this month, we launched the second phase, adding 25 new contributions, bringing the total to more than 40.
Our learning agenda has also grown stronger.
We have developed new tools, trainings, and learning modules to help local governments build knowledge together and renew their commitment to localization.
Our online learning platform remains at the heart of these efforts.
It now offers more than 50 courses on sustainable development and local governance, and has already brought together over 5,000 participants from around the world.
Throughout the year, the Presidency has also placed strong emphasis on reinforcing the institutional backbone of UCLG, ensuring that our Organization remains agile, transparent, and representative of the diversity of our membership.
The Working Group on Institutional Issues has played a central role in reviewing our internal functioning and statutory framework, with a focus on clarifying existing rules, and improving accountability and political inclusivity.
The work of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments has been pivotal in ensuring that local perspectives are embedded in the outcomes of the UN Summit of the Future and the ongoing reform of the multilateral system.
We are witnessing a growing recognition that the global challenges of our century, from climate change to inequality and migration, can only be addressed through coordinated, multilevel governance.
As we move forward, our task is to ensure that this recognition becomes permanent and institutionalized.
That local and regional governments have a permanent seat at the global table.
I am pleased to share that the recent report by the UN Secretary General, released earlier this month, offers concrete recommendations on how stronger engagement with local and regional authorities can accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda.
It provides a real opportunity to place our work at the heart of global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and to strengthen our role within UN processes.
Dear friends, peace and city diplomacy are an integral part of what we are, and what we stand for.
Humbly, I must add, they have been the guiding light of my presidency, in a year that remains increasingly complex and a global context that is, unfortunately, as far from peaceful as it was a year ago.
It is this urgent need to acknowledge our role as cities, and as territories, in fostering peace that guided the development of the Hague Charter on Municipal Peace, a contribution from my city to our agenda, which I am convinced can be step forward for our world organization in building local peace.
The hosting of the UCLG World Forum on Cities and Territories of Peace in Montevideo has also been at the heart of our efforts in building peace from our communities.
Emphasizing a vision of cities and territories of peace as liveable, cohesive, inclusive, and supportive environments, a sustainable economy with quality employment, and democratic, transparent, and effective governance.
The Declaration adopted in Montevideo builds on our longstanding trajectory around peace, around the three axes of our Pact for the Future, and considers the Hague Charter for Municipal Peace as part of the shared local acquis around peacebuilding.
Colleagues, the road ahead is both challenging and full of opportunity.
I want to thank each and every one of you for your unwavering commitment, your resilience, and your belief in the power of local action.
Together, we are not only transforming our communities, but we are redefining the way the world governs itself.
Let us continue to work together, guided by our shared principles of care, equity, and trust, building a future where no one and no place is left behind.
I am proud to have linked my life not just to being a public servant, but to being part of our movement, of our World Organization.
I am proud to have been your President in 2025, and look forward to continue being a part of our movement in the years to come.
Thank you.
