KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 3

Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister for Urban Development, Prakash Man Singh, today left for Cairo, the capital of Egypt, to participate in the World Urban Forum programme. He is leading a Nepali delegation to the programme.

The World Urban Forum (WUF) is the premier global conference on sustainable urbanization.

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Badri Prasad Pandey, bid him farewell at Tribhuvan International Airport this morning.

DPM Singh is the high-level official to attend the programme in which more than 150 countries are participating. The ministers related to urban development will be participating from other countries whereas Singh, who is also the Deputy

Prime Minister, is attending from Nepal, according to the Ministry of Urban Development.

DPM Singh will be addressing three sessions of the World Urban Forum, calling attention of the world on challenges Nepal is facing in the development of settlements, on the problems encountered in the face of climate change and on the achievements the country has made in terms of habitat development.

The World Urban Forum programme is taking place from November 4-8 in Cairo. The Twelfth Session of the World Urban Forum WUF12 is convened by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) under the theme – 'It All Starts at Home: Local Actions for Sustainable Cities and Communities.'

The WUF was established in 2001 by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies. The first WUF was held in Nairobi, Kenya in 2002 and has been held around the world ever since.

Representatives of national, regional and local governments, academics, business people, community leaders, urban planners and civil society representatives will be among the thousands of people are expected to attend WUF12 which is co-organized by The Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

DPM Singh is accompanied by his spouse Srijana Singh, officials of the Ministry of Urban Development. DPM Singh and his delegation will return home on November 9.