Progressing towards Future Sustainability
Participants of the UNACLA Meeting, 24 April 2017, Istanbul, Turkey, posed with Mayor Kadir Topaz of Istanbul.
NEW Urban Agenda was adopted in 2016. One year before, in 2015, leaders agreed on Sustainable Development Goals. Not long afterwards various exchange knowledge forums were held to accelerate the implementation. Entering 2017, there comes a time to identify progress of the implementation and enhancement to improve future efforts. Realizing this need, representatives from local and regional government networks gathered and met in the meeting of United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA) in Istanbul on April 24, 2017. The meeting explored implementation of the New Urban Agenda, the progress made in the localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the crucial role of local and regional governments. Hosting the meeting, Mayor of Istanbul, Kadir Topbas addressed the efforts taken as implementation of SDG Goal 11. He put emphasis on the importance of global agendas