KMC to host int’l mayors’ conference in October

Kathmandu, February 1

Kathmandu Metropolitan City will be hosting International Mayors’ Conference of Sister Cities-2020 scheduled for October 7-10.

According to KMC, the theme of the conference has been proposed as ‘Historic cities and towns in sustainable transformations’ and it is expected to be a catalytic forum to forward a collective action in enhancing, understanding and strengthening knowledge exchange.

The inaugural and valedictory sessions of the conference will take place at the historic Nasal Chowk at Hanumandkoha Durbar Square, Kathmandu. Similarly, on the remaining days of the conference, three historic cities of Kathmandu valley — Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur — will host one session each.

“As the economy and environment are becoming tans-border issues, forging sister-relationship among the cities has become inevitable.

Sister cities promote people-to-people interaction through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation at individual and community levels,” said KMC Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya.

Inscribed on the World Heritage list, the valley consists of a cluster of 18 municipalities.

They have sister city networks with over 25 cities and more cities are in process to join the network.

KMC officials said conference would bring together prominent mayors from all over the world to discuss the recent trends in urban development, innovations, best practices and common challenges and solutions in several areas of city life.

The conference is expected to boost the ongoing Visit Nepal 2020 campaign launched by the government with the aim of creating a buzz about the country’s tourism sector across the world. The participants of the conference will also issue the Kathmandu Declaration for mutual cooperation among the cities.