The Mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, begins an international agenda on October 10 with the aim of bringing the voice of Bogotá's leadership to important meetings of mayors, cities, and local governments around the world.
"In June, Bogotá assumed the presidency of the global organization Metropolis, which brings together all the metropolitan cities of the world, and we also assumed the presidency of CIDEU. In my exercise of the presidency held by the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá I will have a two-week international agenda derived from these commitments," said the Mayor.
At these events, the Mayor will call for the fulfillment of the Global Development Agendas and will present the District’s most recent advances and achievements related to care, planning, and sustainable development.
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"Bogotá has received millions of dollars in cooperation, has been chosen for its leadership in care, in sustainable mobility, and in its climate action plan to fulfil these international responsibilities. Just as many times others come to visit us, we must meet international commitments in this regard," said Bogotá’s leader.
The agenda will begin in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) where the Mayor will participate in the Bloomberg CityLAB global summit, a space for city leaders, urban thinkers, and experts to share scalable urban solutions. The central theme of this meeting will be the recovery of public confidence and city leadership in response to social discontent.
The Bloomberg organization has established itself as an important international partner of the District, particularly since the beginning of this administration, providing technical assistance to offer innovative solutions to reduce non-communicable diseases, especially childhood obesity, and reinforcing healthy school cafeteria offerings, as part of the Healthy Cities Partnership.
Other recent projects include the selection of Bogotá -from among several global cities- to form the Bloomberg-funded iTeam innovation team, which aims to design, pilot, and validate data-driven solutions and strengthen public innovation capabilities to solve the city's main challenges; and participation in the upcoming Bloomberg Mayor's Challenge, which will provide US$1.5 million in funding for the District Care System.
In Daejeon (Korea), Mayor Claudia López will participate in the World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders, convened by the United Cities and Local Governments network, UCLG, the largest gathering of mayors, local governors, councilors, and local and regional experts from around the world.
The relationship between Bogotá and Korea has been very close for several years with several opportunities for cooperation, especially in the post-pandemic context. In 2020, the Korean government donated US$5 million to support the increase in the number of ICUs in the Bogotá and strengthen the technical capabilities of human talent in healthcare.
As for more recent cases, the Korean ICT company SRPOST linked the Office of the High Counsellor for ICT in September 2022 to a project to support the creation of the Academy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In addition, in April 2022, the metropolitan government of Seoul offered a two-week virtual course to 20 officials from different entities in Bogotá, and Grupo Energia Bogotá (GEB) signed a cooperation agreement with Korea for the construction of Colombia’s first Hybrid Power Plant in Bogotá.
It should also be remembered that a few days ago a meeting was held between the Vice Mayor of Seoul, Eui-seung Kim, and Mayor Claudia López as part of the celebration of 40 years of diplomatic relations between the two capitals. This event included a concert by the Seoul Metropolitan Traditional Orchestra, organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Korean Embassy in Colombia.
At the summit in the Korean city of Daejeon, the Mayor will appear in her capacity as president of the global network of large cities and metropolitan areas, Metropolis, and will participate in panels focused on issues such as the development of smart districts, equality in urban policy, and transparency in local governments, in order to use Bogotá’s experience to contribute to the construction of more resilient, sustainable, and peaceful communities.
There, Mayor López will also hold meetings with Korean businesspeople to present the main infrastructure works in Bogotá, with the aim of achieving a broad participation of global firms in the bids and processes that will be opened in the short and medium term.
Following this event, the agenda will continue in Barcelona (Spain), where the Mayor will attend the 'Metropolitan Solutions' Congress at the invitation of the Barcelona City Council and will exchange knowledge on post-pandemic actions aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mayor López will participate in the Global Summit of Mayors of the C40 Cities Network, of which she is vice-president. This meeting seeks to showcase innovative ideas to address climate change and the main topics to be discussed will be green jobs, climate justice, and the gender approach, areas in which Bogotá has stood out for its international leadership.
The agenda will conclude in Montevideo where the Mayor will share experiences of the Care System, Care Blocks, and the benefits for thousands of women caregivers, through which greater gender equity is being achieved in the capital of Colombia.
The District's Secretary of Education, Edna Bonilla, who has been in office since the beginning of the current District administration, will take over as acting mayor between October 7 and 23, while Mayor Claudia López attends these high-level international meetings.
