The consensus draft of the Communiqué of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) hosted in Mexico on 15-16 of April emphasized the role of local and regional governments in development. The conclusions of the two day meeting mention highlight importance of enabling local and regional governments to take on greater roles in policy making, and service delivery. They also call for increased participation of sub-national governments in the implementation of the Busan commitments on effective development cooperation.
During the first day of the meeting, the GPEDC brought together heads of state and government ministers, local and regional governments, parliamentarians, leaders of international organizations, civil society groups and development professionals with the aim of assessing the progress of the implementation of the Busan commitments on aid effectiveness. The sessions covered the ‘how’ of development co-operation, including examples of country-led development, linking aid to budgets and how to best work with the different development actors.
The President of Mexico, Mr. Enrique Peña Nieto jointly with the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon and the OECD Secretary General, Angel Gurria, opened the meeting. Paul Carrasco, President of ORU-FOGAR and President of the Forum of Regions of UCLG, spoke in the opening ceremony of behalf of local and regional authorities.
Local and regional governments were represented in the first three plenary sessions. Carles Llorens, Secretary General of ORU-FOGAR, presented a roadmap to promote a more enabling environment for local and regional governments in the First Plenary: Progress since Busan. Hubert Julien Laferriere, Deputy-Mayor of Lyon and UCLG Champion, participated in the second plenary on Partnering for Effective Taxation and Domestic Resource Mobilisation for Development, as well as in the session on Development Co-operation with Middle Income Countries, where he advocated for fiscal decentralization and more inclusive urban development to contribute to localize development cooperation and the implementation of the Busan agreements.
The meeting addressed the governance of the Partnership, including the incorporation of a permanent representative of local and regional governments on the GPEDC Steering Committee. The consensus draft has been approved by the Steering Committee as a whole and will be submitted for approval at the closing plenary session of the First High Level Meeting.
Follow: #GPEDC #GPHLM
