Binay elected to international organization of local authorities

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay was elected to the executive committee of an international organization of local authorities during its recent congress in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Makati City’s Information and Community Relations Department (ICRD) said the 2005 Congress of the Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements (Citynet) was attended by more than 300 mayors and representatives of national and local governments, civil society groups, private companies and international organizations.

Binay said he looks forward to the opportunity to share Makati’s experience in urban management.

He said he also hopes to learn from Citynet members and contribute to the attainment of the organization’s objectives.

"The city of Makati is proud to be part of Citynet. We share its goal of making the cities of Asia Pacific people friendly, and this we can achieve by promoting the standards set by the organization for cities to be environmentally friendly, socially just, economically productive, participatory managed, and culturally vibrant," Binay said.

In a letter to Binay, Citynet president and Yokohama, Japan Mayor Hiroshi Nakada congratulated Binay and welcomed the city government of Makati to the executive committee.

"I believe we have been entrusted with a compelling mandate and clear direction for working towards the realization of the Millennium Development Goals through localization and city-to-city cooperation in the Asia and Pacific Region," the Japanese official said.

Citynet was formed on July 27, 1987 and its members now include 64 local governments and organizations in Australia, Bangladesh, Fiji, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, People’s Republic of China, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

The organization works hand-in-hand with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Special Unit for Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) and United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT). — Michael Punongbayan