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Coming up: Bonn SDG partnership conference

The City of Bonn, under the auspices of the Department of International Affairs and Global Sustainability, invites representatives from Bonn's partner cities to a joint partnership conference from September 25 to 28. For the first time, representatives from the European partner cities of the city districts as well as from the non-European partner cities will be jointly addressed with this event.

"Building Bridges between Cities in Europe and Worldwide - Joining Hands for Localising the SDGs"

The aim of the conference is to work together on municipal issues related to the 2030 Agenda and to initiate further networking between the partner cities. The main focus will be on personal exchange between the partner cities and the City of Bonn, which has been severely limited over the past two and a half years due to the pandemic.  The conference is intended to give new impetus to this cooperation and city twinning. 

The 2030 Agenda, as a globally significant reference framework for cities, is a well-suited starting point that sets common themes and unifying goals. The conference will address topics of the 2030 Agenda that are relevant to all participating cities. To prioritize the topics, all participating cities will be invited to a virtual preliminary meeting. In addition, topics will be included that are suitable to start working on Agenda 2030 and where closer cooperation has already been established under individual partnerships to date. These involve education (SDG 4), sustainable cities (SDG 11), climate protection (SDG 13) and partnerships (SDG 17). 

Another goal will be to create a network between the municipalities in Europe and the Global South connected to Bonn beyond the conference and possibly support new alliances of all Bonn partner cities for exchange and further cooperation on Agenda 2030. It is also planned to develop joint implementation measures that can be continued in the participating partner cities and to promote broader networking among the partner cities.

A four-day program is planned as part of the conference, during which the participating municipalities will present their best-practice approaches to local implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Inputs from various Bonn institutions working on the Agenda, such as the Bonn Alliance for Sustainability Research and the United Nations Systems Staff College on Sustainable Development, have been scheduled. Various workshops will facilitate exchange on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda as a whole and on individual SDGs. Excursions to sustainability sites in Bonn will provide an opportunity to learn about practical examples of implementation. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to take part in individual program items of the SDG Days, such as the opening event in the Rheinaue, the #Zero-Hunger-Run, and to get to know the work of the UN SDG Action Campaign. 

About 20 representatives from the partner cities of Bonn’s city districts and the non-European project partner cities, who are in charge of accompanying the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in their cities, are expected to attend. So far, representatives from the partner cities of Bukhara, Cape Coast, La Paz, Ramallah, Ulan Bator, Opole and Oxford have confirmed their participation. In addition, it is planned to involve the respective partnership associations in individual program items.