Building Local Governments’ Capacity Consistently, Developing Cities Sustainably

18-19 February 2019 I Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Upon the adoption of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and the global commitment on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, cities are working together to develop their cities in ensuring that the sustainability with be achieved under the spirit of “no one is left behind”. Among the various approaches taken by the city of Kuala Lumpur, in collaboration with Malaysia National Government, is to promote inclusive debates and discussion on sustainable urban development by bringing together various relevant stakeholders on Malaysia Urban Forum 9 (MUF9) from 18 to 19 February 2019.

Represented by Secretary General Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, UCLG ASPAC enriched the discussion during the session on Mayors, Local and Regional Government Assembly, by sharing success stories of SDGs localisation of governments within Asia-Pacific region, such as in Myanmar, Thailand, and Indonesia. Moreover, Secretary General Bernadia highlighted the contribution of UCLG ASPAC to SDGs Localisation in Indonesia, through the LOCALISE SDGs project. With the support of the European Union (EU), this project has benefitted 16 provinces and 14 cities in Indonesia in awareness raising, networking, as well as capacity building for successful SDGs localisation by city governments in Indonesia. She further added that in order to identify urban solutions, multilevel governance system and collaboration with people are required, while reiterating the importance of cities being interconnected so their leaders could collaborate in finding solutions.

Malaysia Urban Forum 9 also brought together experts and urban leaders to share their insights on children and youth, as well as business in addition to various urban talks and networking sessions.

Closer Collaboration for Revitalised Kuala Lumpur Regional Training Centre (KLRTC)

18 February 2019 I Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – In relations to UCLG ASPAC’s commitment to strengthen the collaboration with Kuala Lumpur City Government, in enhancing local governments’ capacity across Asia-Pacific, Secretary General Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi signed a Letter of Intent to reinvigorate the KLRTC, through synergies and collaboration with UCLG ASPAC in a broad-range of areas including development and conduct of training programmes that respond to global issues and tailor to the emerging needs of local governments, such as climate change, disaster risk reduction, and multilevel governance.