The City of Cape Town is proudly hosting a delegation of City of Aachen officials, politicians and representatives from civil society organisations this week, from 24 to 28 October 2011. The City’s Acting Executive Mayor, Alderman Ian Neilson, officially welcomed the delegation during a special event held yesterday.
The City formed a Local Agenda 21 (LA21) Partnership with the City of Aachen in 2000, which has contributed significantly to achieving sustainable development goals that have benefitted both Cape Town residents and the environment over the past ten years.
The main purpose of the delegation’s visit will be to discuss the re-signing of the Memorandum of Agreement and the five-year plan for the Aachen-Cape Town LA21 Partnership. This visit and review takes place several months before the 20th anniversary of Agenda 21 internationally.
The Cape Town-Aachen LA21 Partnership is one of the longest-standing active international partnerships between two cities, with measureable practical benefits to the City of Cape Town and the City of Aachen.
Background
The Aachen-Cape Town LA21 Partnership initiated in 2000, was endorsed through the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement on 04 June 2004 in Aachen, Germany.The Partnership is a multi-lateral agreement, which reflects the cooperation between local government and various civil society organisations within Aachen and Cape Town. Signed in a spirit of cooperation, it is indicative of the commitment to achieving the vision and goals highlighted in ‘Agenda 21’ as compiled at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (also known as the Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. ‘Agenda 21’ is the United Nations programme that promotes sustainable development. The implementation of ‘Agenda 21’ involves action at international, national, regional and local levels, thus placing a strong emphasis on partnerships.
Programmes implemented at local levels are known as ‘Local Agenda 21’ or ‘LA21’ programmes and aim to address local sustainable development issues while regarding the global context within which they occur. In implementing LA21 programmes, the Aachen–Cape Town LA21 Partnership has contributed significantly to achieving sustainable development goals to the benefit of both people and the environment.
The Partnership specifically promotes LA21 principles through projects, exchanges, and networking. With the support of the City of Cape Town and the City of Aachen, civil society organisations in both cities have implemented numerous partnership projects over the years.
“LA21 partnership projects have been catalytic in improving the way in which the City delivers services to the public. These include the 21 Households Partnership Project which gave rise to the City’s Smart Living campaign, promoting the sustainable use of resources at household level,” said Alderman Neilson.
Further information on the LA21 Partnership is available at www.aachen-kapstadt.de.
For more information about the City’s external relations, click here.
Article source: http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/Pages/CapeTownandAachentorenewpartnership.aspx
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