(October 31, 2023, Addis Ababa) Ethiopian Cities Association (ECA) in collaboration with UN Habitat held a half-day panel discussion regarding on World Cities Day, which is celebrated every year on October 31, today at the Grand Eliana Hotel in Addis Ababa.

The day is being celebrated internationally under the theme of “Financing Sustainable Urban Future For All”, and on the same day, cities can share their experiences in the field of urban development and tailor solutions to address the problems they face.

The guest of honor of the event, State Minister of FDRE Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure, Honorable Ato Fenta Dejen, said that enhancing financial resilience of urban centers has become among the priority areas to respond and to reverses the expected challenges and make it as population dividend.

HE Ato Fenta added that through the Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure the government is undertaking many key activities since the inception of the Ten years Urban and Infrastructure Sectorial Development road map plan in 2020.

On his part, Mr. Omar Sylla, Manager of East African countries at the UN Habitat Regional Office, said that his office is doing a lot of work to make the development of cities integrated and inclusive. He pointed out that his office is ready to and have plans to work with Ethiopian cities so as to fill the gaps in the urban development sector.

In his opening speech, the Director General of the Ethiopian Cities Association, Ato Andualem Tenaw, announced that on this World Cities Day, cities have got an opportunity to promote the international community’s interest in global urbanization, push forward cooperation among countries in addressing challenges of urbanization and contribute to sustainable urban development around the world.

In this half-day panel discussion, Sustainable Fnancial Mechanism, Inclusivity and Equity, Resilience and Climate Action as well as other Case Studies and Best Practices were presented and Yirgacheffe City Mayor Ato Tadele Tilahun, Wolkite City Mayor Ato Endale Sitotaw and Harar City Mayor Ato Ismail Yesuf were also presented their experiences about different urban development issues and discussed.