African Mayors from the Lake Victoria region signed an agreement with the Yangpu District of the Municipal Government of Shanghai for enhanced cooperation and exchange programmes. The agreement was signed during the fourth session of the World Urban Forum in Nanjing.
 Ms. Zong Ming, Magistrate of Yangpu joined the mayors of 21 towns from Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda which all border Africa’s greatest lake at a colourful signing ceremony was witnessed by UN-HABITAT Executive Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka . Those witnessing the ceremony from the Chinese side were Mr. Zhuang Shaoqin, Member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Yangpu District and Vice Magistrate, Mr. Chen Anjie, Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Yangpu District Committtee and Mr. Qi Ji, Vice Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Hoiusing and Urban and Town construction During the signing ceremony, Mrs. Tibaijuka commended the Yangpu District for expressing its intention to partner with cities and towns in the Lake Victoria region. She urged the mayors to implement the lessons learned in China.
“Seeing is believing. You have come to China and you have seen how they are dealing with the challenges of rapid urbanization. The only thing remaining now is implementation, implementation, and implementation”, she said while expressing UN-HABITAT’s commitment to support the towns and cities around Lake Victoria in the endeavour.
Chinese officials said Yangpu would send a delegation to lake Victoria early next year to follow-up on the accord and an earlier study visit that led to the new agreement. |
