Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Coalition
Closing Event, held online 31 March 2026
Closing remarks from HE Johnston Busingye, High Commissioner of Rwanda
Secretary General and the entire Sustainable Cities Coalition, thank you very much for this important meeting. Our presence here, I think, adds a lot of weight and meaning to the cause that we are standing for here. I would also like to thank each of us for the updates on how implementation on the declaration of sustainable urbanization has gone.
From Kigali in 2022, when the Declaration on Sustainable Urbanization was conceived, to Dumfries House in January 2024, when experts deliberated the issue and gave some guidelines, then to the Wilton Park dialogue in April 2024, exploring how to build a transformative coalition in response to the declaration, and later to Samoa in December 2024, reaffirming the necessity of the declaration. Surely, the declaration has made a very long journey. And this has to continue until it delivers the desirable outputs.
It is important to note that there has been a very big stride made since the Wilton Park dialogue. A multidisciplinary coalition comprising governments, professional bodies, universities and practitioners is now in place to move the declaration from commitments to practical action. As the team presented, three action groups, that is urban finance, housing and integrated planning, alongside a cross-cutting skills expert group have been working to generate evidence, case material and policy relevant insights.
Let me take you back to the rationale of the Declaration on Sustainable Urbanization. If we look far ahead into the future, urbanization will have important consequences for all national economies across the Commonwealth members, because an additional 2.5 billion people will be living in the world's towns and cities, almost 50% of them in the Commonwealth. And no single member state is an exception to this, be it small or big, island or landlocked, rich or poor.
Just to share one example on how urbanization affects life and economies in general, and how countries are dealing not only with rapid urbanization, but also tackling the impacts of the climate crisis such as growing vulnerability and inequality. Recently, our region experienced heavy rains and we have seen most parts of the cities entirely submerged and what looked like new water bodies emerged. Indeed, as we all acknowledge, cities are at the front of dealing with these global challenges of urbanization and climate change.
As you may be aware, the government of Rwanda made huge investments in the urbanization secto, from establishing the Land Tenure Regularization Program in 2013 that addressed different land ownership claims, quantified land tenure and promoted
investment in land for socioeconomic development through the systematic land registration process. The Mpazi participatory rehousing project in the city of Kigali, which Peter is working on with the team in our Ministry of Infrastructure, is another phase in the entire urbanization program of the Republic of Rwanda.
We have had to deal with issues relating to leadership, legal regulation, climate, rapid transit, transportation, financing, ownership, all sorts of challenges. I have no doubt that the urbanization challenges that Rwanda faces are not different from those faced by all other members of the Commonwealth. And this was the basis of the idea to initiate the Declaration on Sustainable Urbanization.
Challenges like those I just mentioned make it necessary to plan effectively for urban expansion, to ensure the equitable provision of municipal services. And to this end, improved land governance and integrated urban planning is essential in providing access to land and to infrastructure, but also to prevent catastrophe caused by climate change.
There is no better platform for collaboration in planning and dealing with challenges of urbanization than the Commonwealth. Under the Commonwealth, capacity building, exchange of knowledge and experience, as well as harnessing the power of storytelling and positive framing, can be made possible.
Secretary General, the Commonwealth is at a pivotal moment to embrace sustainable urbanization. History has placed this existential priority within your tenure and has handed you the mandate. The convening power of the Commonwealth and its networks, a platform for peer-to-peer engagement and learning, dialogue and alignment, for developing a data hub on urbanization in the Commonwealth, enhancing modern policies and principles around sustainable urbanization, and building a stronger coalition of member states and partners to champion action and to enhance inclusion.
Rwanda stands with the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Initiative in driving the implementation of the declaration and will support the Secretary General in this regard. I do hope that that speaks for the entire membership of the Commonwealth, because sustainable urbanization is a cause for all of us. Of course, the challenges on implementation include critical capacity, policy and financing gaps. But the expert talks that are inclusive are aimed at addressing these issues through this dynamic collaboration.
I would like to again welcome the detailed work undertaken by the CSCI partners and look forward to future engagement in this direction. Thank you very much and let us keep this momentum going. Thank you."