Cities to be Leading Voices at G20 Summit in Buenos Aires

Cities will play a larger role than ever before in the 2018 G20 Summit to be held in Argentina, thanks to a new initiative announced today by the mayors of Buenos Aires and Paris. Urban 20 (U20) is a new diplomatic initiative, facilitated by C40 Cities, to help cities develop collective messages and inclusive solutions for global issues such as climate action, the future of work and social integration.

U20 was launched today at a press conference hosted by the Mayor of Paris & Chair of C40 Cities, Anne Hidalgo and Mayor of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. The initiative will bring together 30 major cities located in G20 countries, and many other global cities, to raise the profile of urban issues in the G20 agenda and enhance the role of cities in the G20 process.

The inaugural U20 Mayors Summit will meet in Buenos Aires in October 2018, ahead of the G20 Heads of State Summit hosted by Argentina.

The U20 initiative will be facilitated by C40 with the support of partners, in the context of the Argentinean G20 Presidency. The Agence Française de Développement, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), have already announced their support to the initiative.

“The world today is more urban than at any time ever before, transformations generated by urbanization have the potential to boost well-being, resource efficiency and economic growth,” said Mayor of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. “That is why I hope that the Summit that we will have in Buenos Aires can start a new space for dialogue among the world leaders and the mayors of large cities. Furthermore, I wish U20 becomes a regular event in the next years.”

“A very large amount of the economic, social and diplomatic power enjoyed by G20 nations comes from the success of their cities,” said Mayor of Paris & Chair of C40, Anne Hidalgo. “Mayors, working together through networks like C40, are delivering progress on the key challenges facing our cities, from climate change, refugees and inequality. It is only right that the voices of cities should be heard at the G20.”

The U20 initiative builds on years of city engagement in the UN led by ICLEI and UCLG, and the momentum gained at the G20 Leaders’ Summits in China, 2016 and Germany, 2017, where mayors from numerous C40 cities published open letters calling for the G20 to deliver greater action on climate change.