2023-10-11 17:03:44
The International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF) is holding its 43rd annual congress this year in Cotonou, dedicated this year to urban arts and cultures. The work was launched this Wednesday morning by the mayor of Cotonou, Luc Atrokpo.
More than 300 mayors of municipalities from 54 countries are participating in the four-day meeting at the Palais des Congrès in Cotonou. They will notably debate the importance of arts and culture for strengthening social ties in urban centers.
“It will be a question for mayors of imagining local public policies which make urban cultures and their actors committed partners in sustainable and inclusive development of territories”, indicate the organizers. And for this, the AIMF wants to rely in particular on the Beninese experience of recent years in terms of cultural projects.
City diplomacy
The Cotonou meeting is also intended to be a platform to promote the role of cities in response strategies to political and security problems. “We took the gamble, in this disrupted world, of choosing Cotonou to say that local elected officials have something to do in terms of pacifying relations between individuals and between the different hierarchical levels, declared Pierre Baillet, permanent secretary of the AIMF upon his arrival in Cotonou. Mayors, if they are mobilized, it is to show the importance of cities in the construction of decentralized cooperation (…). Where states have failed, cities succeed.”
Starting this Wednesday, mayors from the Sahel states, prey to terrorism, will meet behind closed doors. “The cities and platforms of the Great Lakes region, the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia will come to bear their testimony and exchange views, in particular, with the Mayors of the Sahel who are facing a crisis situation.”
Cotonou-Marseille cooperation
Cooperation agreements will be signed between several cities during the meetings. Cotonou, which is hosting the meeting, will formalize its partnership with Marseille.
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