The executive committee of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) concluded the work of its 12th meeting, Monday evening in Tangier, with a firm determination for the establishment of the Development Fund for African cities.
Speaking during the closing ceremony, the president of UCLG Africa, Khalifa Ababascar Sall, affirmed that the members of UCLG agreed to set up this Fund, which will allow African cities to meet the challenges related to decentralisation and the improvement of the performance and governance of local authorities (LAs), particularly in the field of management and their financial empowerment.
The official praised the efforts made by Morocco in terms of governance and local development and the advanced regionalisation project in which it is engaged, noting with great satisfaction the provisions implemented by the Kingdom to successfully organise this major event and allow UCLG Africa to play the role that falls to it and to strengthen its capacities for the promotion of the development of African countries.
"African LAs should be complementary entities in order to strengthen the local development of the countries of the African Continent and to promote their influence on an international scale," he stressed.
For his part, the Minister of the Interior, Mohamed Hassad, emphasised the importance of holding this meeting in a Moroccan city, noting that the Kingdom is today more than ever committed to developing its cooperation relations with African countries to the maximum and to promoting the development of the Continent and the prosperity of African peoples.
In this context, the Minister highlighted the profound reforms undertaken by Morocco concerning regions and LAs, aimed in particular at ensuring financial and functional empowerment of the region, while giving it the financial means to meet local development challenges, noting that a budget of approximately 4 billion dollars (about 39 billion dirhams) will be allocated for the management of Morocco's regions over the next six years.
As for the president of the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Communal Councils (AMPCC), Fouad El Omari, he made it known that this meeting was an ideal opportunity to debate the various issues in relation to the environment, public transport, new technologies, poverty, and marginalisation in the African continent, in order to engage in effective partnerships of a nature to meet these challenges.
Fouad El Omari, also Mayor of Tangier, stressed that strengthening the prerogatives of local authorities in African countries should make it possible to win the bet related to local development and to make available to African cities the necessary financing to play the role assigned to them.
This meeting, organised by the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Communal Councils (AMPCC) in partnership with the urban commune of Tangier, was marked by the adoption of the minutes of the 11th meeting of the Executive Committee held on 13 October 2014 in Johannesburg, and the report on the implementation of the resolutions taken in this framework, in addition to the approval of the 2014 accounts and the discussion of the preparations for the Africities 2015 Summit.
This meeting took place in the presence notably of the Wali of the Tangier-Tetouan region, mayors, and representatives of local authorities from several African countries, as well as experts in the field of territorial governance.
United Cities and Local Governments of Africa is the umbrella organisation and the united voice ensuring the representation of local authorities of the entire African continent. It brings together 40 national associations of LAs from all regions of Africa, as well as 2,000 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.
