Photo: Mayor Michael Hancock and Mayor Bernard Wagner

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Apr. 27, 2023

This year, the first Cities Summit of the Americas is being hosted by Mayor Michael Hancock and the City of Denver in Colorado, U.S.A from April 26 to April 28, inside the Colorado Convention Center. At the invitation of Mayor Hancock and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB Belize), Mayor Bernard Wagner of Belize City is currently attending this inaugural event. The Cities Summit aims to promote regional cooperation by gathering a diverse group of subnational leaders from across the Western Hemisphere. These leaders represent various sectors, including government, civil society, academia, culture, arts, business and indigenous communities. Over these three days, attendees will participate in stakeholder roundtables, networking sessions, expert panels, commercial engagements and public outreach activities, all of which should address a variety of local community priorities shared across the Americas.

One of the main events Mayor Bernard Wagner attended during the Cities Summit was the 2023 IDB Mayors Forum on April 26, 2023. This event, which was organized by the IDB Cities Network, brought together approximately forty mayors from Latin America and the Caribbean. Under the theme, “Financing Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean Cities,” participants had the opportunity to explore new avenues of financing, share tools and inspire the sustainable strengthening of public finances in order to fund projects that aim to improve citizens’ quality of life. In addition to the Mayors Forum, Mayor Wagner will be participating in a panel discussion focused on “Local Leadership in Preventing and Responding to Hate and Extremism and Enhancing Public Safety”.

In an effort to promote regional cooperation and as a product of the Cities Summit, Mayor Wagner will also sign onto two declarations on behalf of Belize City. The first declaration, led by Denver mayor Michael Hancock, is the “Denver Declaration on City Priorities for Regional Cooperation,” which demonstrates cities’ commitment to addressing priorities, including housing and sustainable development, migration, and climate action and their enabling conditions through finance and investment, technology transparency and good governance. The second declaration, led by Mayor Eduardo Paes of Rio De Janeiro, is the “ Denver Declaration on Enhancing Mayoral Leadership in Addressing Hate, Extremism, and Polarization and Safeguarding Local Democracy in the Americas”. This declaration signifies cities’ commitment to condemning the rising levels of extremism and hate, increased polarization, anti-government sentiment, and gender-based, inter-communal, gang-related violence and misinformation.

When speaking with the Amandala about his experience at the inaugural summit, Mayor Bernard Wagner said that he had found many similarities between his experience and that of other mayors he encountered. He said, “Having the opportunity to sit down, to network and to collaborate with other mayors of the Americas has been a wonderful experience. What you quickly find out is that the challenges you face in your municipality are common in most municipalities of the Americas. We all face challenges brought on by issues such as climate change, unplanned urbanization, sustainable development and inability to access finance to fund climate resilient infrastructure, clean energy, as well as instituting climate adaptation processes.” Mayor Wagner went on to say, “We all continue to grapple with the need for greater decentralization and autonomy. Through avenues such as this summit we are able to identify best practices that have worked in other municipalities and in some instances apply in our scenario.”