The Belize City mayor took part in a high-level panel discussion on sustainable urbanization across the Commonwealth.

By Khaila Gentle

BELIZE CITY, Sun. June 26, 2022

Belize City mayor Bernard Wagner, one of a few Belizeans who represented the country at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2022, took part in the “A Call to Action on Sustainable Urbanization across the Commonwealth” side event as well as at the Commonwealth Business Forum last week.

Day two of the official side event featured a high-level panel discussion on “Empowering Cities to Deliver,” which saw Mayor Wagner speak on building sustainable cities.

“As municipal leaders, we must be empowered to introduce innovative financial instruments for resource mobilization to attain sustainable infrastructure; proliferate renewable energy; stimulate local economic development; promote the culture richness of our municipalities; promote sports and healthy living; to improve food security and other things that combine to boost true economic development. We have the vision. We have the partnerships,” stated the Mayor.

According to the Belize City Council, at the event, the Mayor also had the opportunity to discuss partnerships that the council has developed with different sectors and organizations in order to deliver on its priorities.

He participated in the high-level panel discussion alongside Thembi Nkadimeg, Deputy Prime Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, South Africa; Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Kenya; and Stephen Twigg, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

Mayor Wagner also attended the Commonwealth Business Forum, hailed as the first and largest in-person gathering for governments and businesses across the Commonwealth since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. It focused on economic post-pandemic recovery as well as the role that the Commonwealth has to play in rebuilding and reinvigorating the global economy.