Declaration (11)
1. We the BRICS cities participated in the 2013 Friendship Cities and Local Government Cooperation Forum to debate the challenges of rapid urbanisation. Acknowledging that these are multi-dimensional in nature and cover a diversity of inter-linked issues, we therefore agree as follows:
2. Note with appreciation the positive impact of the previous BRICS Friendship Cities and Local Government Cooperation Forum meetings.
3. Pledge to coordinate efforts and learn from best practices and technologies that can make a meaningful difference to our societies.
4. Recognise the growing role that stakeholders such as government, inter-city organisations, private sector, business associations and civil society organisations play as starting points for the exchange of ideas and experiences on urban challenges and solutions, and as actors in international relations, and ability to launch cooperative projects for innovative urban policy-making.
5. Undertake to further the debates within cities and other levels of government on the key levers to build productive and sustainable cities and towns within socially and economically inclusive urban spaces.
6. Commit to sharing knowledge and experiences to support household survival strategies and sustainable development.
7. Deepen our understanding of how urban-rural interdependencies manifest in our respective spaces.
8. In support of the above, we pledge to:
8.1 Share knowledge and experiences in methods and tools for promoting social inclusion such as participative planning and budgeting, and selecting the locally most appropriate tools and levers for participatory democracy.
8.2 Continually strive to strengthen the role of civil society, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders to improve accountability and participatory mechanisms.
8.3 Mitigate activities that degrade the environment and have implications on sustainable human settlements.
8.4 Continually strive to further develop and upgrade governance systems with more effective legal instruments and institutional frameworks
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8.5 Continually strive to strengthen measures to fight corruption and promote transparency and accountability.
9. We remain committed to sharing our experiences, our policy intentions, our lessons from practice, and extend dialogue between our cities to further shared goals of building productive and sustainable urban economies.
10. Develop linkages and cooperate with other BRICS work streams such as the BRICS Think Tank Councils and BRICS Academic Forum for shared learning in areas of urban development, inclusive growth, environmental management and protection.
11. We encourage agreements between members of the Forum to ensure the active implementation of this Declaration.
12. We look forward to Brazil hosting the 4th BRICS Friendship Cities and Local Government Forum in 2015.
Enquiries:
Tsakani Baloyi
Cell: 082 052 0892
