REPORT OF THE 4TH UCLG WORLD CONGRESS
Parallel Session
Dynamics of Change in the Mediterranean This parallel session addressed the following issues: the permanent dialogue between local and regional governments in all Mediterranean countries; the evolution of positions and responsibilities of local and regional authorities and the role of decentralized cooperation in the management that accompanies these evolutions and the reinforcing of capacities, in particular in Tunisia and Libya; the support of local authorities from countries bordering conflict zones: the role of local governments in countries bordering Syria in dialogue and the construction of peace; the role of local governments in the support of Palestinian local authorities, in the perspective of an accompaniment in the construction process of a Palestinian State in the promotion of dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian municipalities; the initiatives to maintain and reinforce dialogue between local authorities in the Middle East and the UCLG Peace Prize for initiatives constructing peace. Mr Mohamed Boudra, President of the TazaAl Hoceima-Taounate Region (Morocco), of the Political Council of the Mediterranean Committee and Chair of the session recalled the unique context in which this session was dedicated to the Mediterranean. Mr Bertrand Gallet, General Director of Cités Unies France and moderator spoke of the important civil society movements related to the influx of Syrian refugees in the
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Organizers Inter-regional Mediterranean Committee of UCLG, UCLG Working Group on the Middle East
speakers Neila Akrimi, Director, Centre for Local Innovation, Tunisia Habib Ben Yahia, Secretary General, Union pour le Maghreb Arabe Mahmoud Borzisah, President of the Local Council, Benghazi, Libya Mohamed Boudra, President of the Taza-Al-Hoceima-Tanouate Region, Morocco Jean-Paul Chagnollaud, Director of the Institute of Research on Mediterranean and Middle-East Studies (iReMMO) Bertrand Gallet, General Director, United Cities France Nader Ghazal, Mayor of Tripoli, Lebanon Tajeddinne Houssaini, Professor, International Law, Arab and Mediterranean world specialist Peter Rehwinkel, Mayor of Groningen, Netherlands Ghassan Shaka’a, Mayor of Nablus, Palestinian Authority, President of Association of Palestinian Local Authorities (APLA) Moderator Hubert Julien-Lafferrière, Vice-President of Greater Lyon, Co-President of the Development Cooperation and City Diplomacy Committee (UCLG), France