Ghana to participate in UN Habitat III Conference
Ghana would participate in the up-coming United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) scheduled for October 17 to 20 in Quito-Ecuador.
Mr Emmanuel Kwadjo Agyekum, a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development would lead the delegation, which include officials from the Ministries of Local Government, Water Resources and Works and Housing.
Officials from the UN Habitat in Ghana, Zoomlion Ghana, GIZ and Cities Alliance would also be part of the conference.
The National Development Planning Commission, Tema Metropolitan Assembly, La Dadekotopon Municipal Assembly and other partners would also be at the conference.
The objective of Habitat Conference, the third conference in line with the bi-decennial cycle (1976, 1996 and 2016) is to invigorate and secure renewed global political commitment to sustainable urbanisation to focus on the implementation of a “New Urban Agenda”, building on the Habitat Agenda of Istanbul in 1996.
It is also to assess the accomplishments to date, address poverty, identify and address new and emerging urban challenges for the establishment of the ‘New Urban Agenda’.
Mr Sylvanus Adjornu, the Head of the Urban Development Unit at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, told the Ghana News Agency in Accra, on Friday, that Ghana had a lot to showcase at the conference.
They include its constitutional democracy, successes of its decentralisation, urban policy, programmes and projects.
He said Ghana had also participated in three preparatory conferences in New York, USA, Nairobi, Kenya and Surabaya, Indonesia.
Mr Adjornu said the President John Dramani Mahama was also nominated by the UN Habitat to champion the Urban Development Agenda in Africa to create awareness among African Heads of States on the need to promote urban development on the continent.
He said Africa was the fastest growing continent with about 47 per cent of its population in urban centers.
He said the New Urban Agenda that would be ratified in Quito, Ecuador, was prepared by urban development experts, the academia, the Government and other global stakeholders.
He said the conference was the major agreement on urban development, coming after the ratification of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Mr Adjornu said since 2009, the majority of the world’s population lived in cities.
He described cities as “economic and productive innovation spaces, which provide opportunities for improving access to resources and services, as well as options in the social, legal, economic, cultural and environmental fields.”
Source: GNA