Assemblies - Joint Closing of the Assemblies (WUF13)

Good morning, Excellency Minister, Ambassador Ambassador.
Finally, the sun is shining.
A Yesterday, we requested the chairman of Spa to stop the rain.
Fortunately, he managed to work with us and stop the rain and bring the sun out.
We're very glad about that.
Before we start, I want to just acknowledge all the volunteers and people who worked in the rain yesterday to keep us safe, to direct us, to make sure we got to the right venues on time, to keep the streets clean.
If you could have a round of applause for all the workers and all the volunteers that worked here yesterday.
So my role as MC today is just to introduce the speakers, and we have a very exciting program today, but I will not take the surprise away, but we do have a star performer with us who's going to give us some music and also a short kind of contribution towards the work that he does.
I will also show some pictures from the assemblies on the screen right now, which we just run in the back so that you can get a flavor of the deliberations and the discussions that took place at the assemblies yesterday so you get a sense of what happened in the rooms.
Many of the rooms were full of people, we didn't have enough chairs.
It's good to hear that the people managed to go through the rain, through the storm and still make it to the venues and contribute to the assemblies.
Yesterday was also a short demonstration of what we have to look for in terms of urban transformation.
Climate change was rarely being demonstrated on the streets yesterday.
We could see the amount of rain, we could see how people struggled.
All of us struggled to get to where we needed to get to, and it is the driving issue that will determine how cities develop in the future.
But not just that, I think one of the most important lessons that was learned yesterday was resilience.
I think despite the weather, many of our colleagues, many of our friends, many of the dignitaries still managed to make it to the venue, walking through puddles of water, walking through without the shoes, to make sure that they were here.
They were able to attend the assemblies and obviously contribute to some of these things.
So I'm not going to make much contributions around the content of the assemblies because we have representatives from the different assemblies that will speak to this.
But just to say that the energy in the assemblies was staggering.
It was fantastic.
I attended the one with the local and regional governments, and I see the mayor from Turkey is here.
It was an incredible experience to be around such fantastic contributions from the speakers, but also from the floor and the nature of discussions and deliberations that came out of these sessions.
So without further ado, I would like to invite the next speaker, but perhaps before we do that, on your seats, you will find a little brochure, and if you don't see it there, just pick up one from the next seat over.
This is your guide to Wolf.
As a stakeholder, it's difficult to navigate the 450 events that will take place over the next couple of days.
So what you'll see inside is that there is a very handy map at the back.
And it shows all the major events taking place at the World Urban Forum over the next four to five days.
Also, you will see that there is a QR code at the end, and if you would like to register as a stakeholder in any of the tracks, please feel free to scan the QR code and you will automatically be registered and added to the UN habitat database and you will get communications from us on ongoing engagements and ongoing processes.
To welcome us today, we have the Deputy Chief of Staff of the State Committee of Urban Planning and Architecture, Goldson Rezva if I got the name right.
Please, a warm welcome.
Thank you.
Good morning to everyone.
Instead of my position, you could say, friend of all stakeholders.
Good morning again.
Today is sun, yesterday was rain but still yesterday was very productive for our audience, interesting discussions, quite busy.
I hope that they will go the same and the next next days will be even more hectic nicely, but you will benefit, you will enjoy.
But please don't forget to go out to the city to enjoy the beauty of our city.
Okay, let me start with my speech on behalf of the international Coordinator, Mr.
Anand who is in the press conference currently.
Excellencies, representatives of the assemblies, stakeholders, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen and friends.
On behalf of the Republic of Azerbaijan, I'm honored to sincerely thank you.
For the energy, commitment and vision you brought to these assemblies, you bring to this forum.
Hosting Walderwan forum for the first time in the Caucasus is a great honor for Azerbijan.
But for us, Wolf 13 is not only a global event.
It is also a political high level commitment, a commitment to place housing, inclusion, resilience, and sustainable urban development at the center of our collective future.
These assemblies reminded us that the future of cities cannot be shaped only by the governments alone.
It must be shaped together.
With women, youth, local governments, businesses, grassroots organizations, and all members of the communities.
This was highlighted in all speeches yesterday in the opening and throughout the assemblies as well, I believe.
The Women's Assembly reminded us that there can be no safe and resilient cities without gender equality.
Access to land, housing, services, and financing remains unequal for millions of women and girls around the world.
The Assembly called for housing systems that are not only gender responsive, but truly gender transformative.
This is an important message for all of us governments and policymakers and urban planners.
World Assembly of local and regional governments demonstrated once again that cities and local governments are at the front line of implementation.
Global agendas become reality only when they are translated at the local level and transformed into the local actions.
The discussions highlighted the importance of multi level governance, stronger partnerships, and better financing mechanisms to support local transformation and adequate housing for all.
The grassroots and civil society organizations assembly brought essential perspectives grounded in lived realities.
It reminded us that communities are not only or simply the beneficiaries of urban policies, urban environments.
They are the partners, innovators, and leaders, and change makers.
The assembly highlighted the importance of rights based approach, protection against forced evictions and stronger collaboration between government and communities to address the housing crisis.
The Child and Youth Assembly, which I love much, delivered a powerful message about the future of our cities.
Young people are not waiting to be invited into urban transformation.
They are already leading and they are a part of it.
They calls for more inclusive planning, better housing opportunities, climate resilience, digital inclusion and meaningful participation must continue to shape the urban agenda beyond this forum.
The business Assembly shows that the private sector has a critical role to play in delivering housing at scale.
But it's also made clear that innovation, investment, and technology growth must be aligned with affordability, sustainability, and inclusion.
The discussions highlighted the need for stronger coordination across the housing value chain and more enabling environments for implementation and partnerships.
Together, these five assemblies demonstrated the richness and diversity of voices that must shape the future of our cities.
They also showed that despite different perspectives, there is a shared understanding that housing is not only about the buildings, it's about dignity, opportunity, resilience, social cohesion, as well as the economic opportunities.
As a host country, Azerbijan strongly believes in the importance of translating dialogue into action.
Roof 13 comes at an important moment globally.
As the world reflects on the implementation of the new urban agenda and accelerates efforts toward the sustainable development goals.
We hope that the discussions held here in Baku will contribute meaningfully to the Baku call to action and help build stronger global momentum around adequate housing and sustainable urban development.
We do believe that discussions at Wo 13 and outcomes of discussions will be definitely considered and they will contribute to the progress report of the New Urban Agenda that will be presented in the high level meeting in New York in July.
Azerbijan remains committed to strengthen cooperation with your habitat and all partners represented here today.
We also hope that the partnerships, networks, and ideas created through these assemblies will continue long after Wolf 13 concludes.
The last remark is that if we look at the registration numbers so far, online registrations and now attendance, the civil society, business, academia are really the leading among the leading attendance and registered participations and Wof 13 has introduced several platforms to create opportunities for dialogue for the businesses through the Business Innovation Hub, bringing together the startups.
We have in the expo Pavilion very dedicated civil society stands in one per million, more than one civil society organizations are represented colleague, friends, please visit, go, you can see, enjoy the expo, but also you will find your future partners.
Thank you very much.
Enjoy your this day and the whole forum in Boko.
Thank you.
Please, can we have another round of applause for Goldsn? She is literally the force behind making this World Urban Forum possible.
Thank you.
Thank you, Goldin.
It gives me great pleasure to invite the next speaker and I had a preview of the speaker yesterday, none other than the mayor from Konya in Turkey.
Mr.
Ibragm Alte.
I was speaking Turkish Esteem stakeholders, dear friends.
Today, we have gathered here for the joint closing of the assemblies and gathered with the stakeholders from across the world, and it's my honor to represent all of these assemblies.
While completing our assemblies, we are moving on with a common belief.
The future of our cities and territories depends on our collective capacity to place people, dignity, and justice at the center of the global urban agenda.
From Baku, our assembly has brought together not just mayors and regional leaders, but also representatives of national governments, academia, and the civil society.
As we understand the World Orban Forum as a space on which to develop a renewed local multilateralism.
Our discussions have made it clear that in line with the theme of this woof, housing needs to be at the center of the urban agenda as a human right, as a precondition for a dignified life.
Housing is foundational to dignity, safety, resilience, social cohesion, agency, and democratic life.
For us, it is very simple and clear.
Housing justice means rights before profits.
It means preventing fragmentation, and it means placing its social and ecological functions before its use as an economical assets.
This approach simply means that housing needs to be seen as an essential public services that make it meaningful in people's daily lives.
It is no different to water and sanitation, energy, mobility, care systems, public health, waste management, and digital access.
Housing as a right means housing as a global common and as a shared political responsibility across all actors and across all spheres of government.
If housing is a shared political responsibility, then we need a stronger say in how it is governed.
As our constituency, we call for stronger multilevel governance arrangements that align local responsibilities with the powers, financing, and institutional recognition needed to act effectively.
At the same time, we reaffirm the importance of decentralized cooperation as a practical and transformative way to connect territories, strengthen peer learning, and scale shared solutions.
Accordingly, we wish to remind that the review of SDG 11 at this year's high level political forum means that we need to acknowledge adequate housing as an integral part of the global agenda.
We need to address as part of the wider conditions that sustain inclusive, sustainable, and dignified urban life.
The ten year review of the new urban agenda to move beyond formal stock taking and honestly confront the structural barriers that continue to hinder implementation, weak decentralization, fragmented competencies, constraint fiscal space, the financialization of housing and land, and insufficient multilevel governance arrangements.
These are among these barriers that we face.
Our commitment to the Nv urban agenda remains as strong now as it was in Quito, which is why we commit to being actors that carry out its realization.
The principles of the Nev Urban agenda remain valid ten years since its approval.
But now we need more.
We need to move beyond formal stock taking and confront the structural barriers that continue to hinder implementation.
Weak decentralization, fragmented competencies, constraint fiscal space, the financialization of housing and land and insufficient multilevel governance arrangements.
Excellencies, dear friends and colleagues, our commitments come with a call a call to be recognized as the political actors as the spheres of government that shape the frameworks to deliver urban commitments.
For this reason, the World Assembly must be reinforced as the mechanism through which local and regional governments continue to follow up and review of the new urban agenda.
Thank you very much for your kind attention.
I would like to extend my gratitude to our host Back.
Thank you very much.
Remove the barriers for implementation and a real call to action.
Please, a round of applause.
The next speaker is an old colleague and friend from Zambia, Melanie Cherba from slum Dwellers International.
Melanie, please.
Your Excellency's, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen.
Good morning.
My name is Melanie Cha, and I will be sharing our deliberations from the Grassroots and Civil Society Assembly.
I'm happy to say from the presentations I've heard that many of the things that were discussed resonate with what the Grassroots Assembly discussed.
Amongst the things that we discussed, we included evictions.
We said there should be an end to forced evictions.
We need to create an environment where laws protect communities and communities have access to land and secure tenure.
If they are displaced, there should be an alternative and an adequate alternative so that they can live with dignity.
We had discussions also around planning that it is important to plan with communities and not for communities.
Joint design, joint co creation in ensuring that policies and practice meet the needs of communities and are responsive to their challenges and their needs, and that they should be at the center of all development processes and not just mere beneficiaries.
The Grassroots Assembly also emphasize the issue of inclusion.
So we had in our group various stakeholders.
We had older persons, persons with disabilities, grassroots persons, people living in slums having the lived experiences within our groups.
It was important for us to raise the issues of inclusion, to live a day in the life of the people and feel their pain, their challenges, and be there.
And so we would like to put forward that our member states and our call to action here at Baku is inclusive of all stakeholders and we know the numbers, we know the numbers, but behind those numbers are real people with real lives, with children, young people, older people, and everybody should be included women, and these were the issues that we raised.
And of course, an important issue that we need to remember is the issue of financing.
We cannot continue to have policies that are beautifully written with no action, no money to put there.
So we are saying we need the money to be where we are putting our policies.
Our policies should not just be gathering dust.
Another issue that we raised with the issues of accountability.
We cannot continue to sign and ratify different documents and saying, yes, housing is all right, we respect housing, and we all singing from the same hymnbook, but we are not accountable to one another.
Accountability is essential and from the Grassroots Assembly and Civil Society Assembly are saying accountability is key and from member states and everybody that's in the room that these issues should be raised.
I'd like to say thank you for the opportunity to be here, and I hope that in the Next World Urban Forum, we can continue to make space for grassroots communities.
And we ask that governments, when you do travel to these assemblies, please bring in grassroots members to come and speak for themselves, to represent themselves as you work together.
I thank you.
As always, brilliant, Melanie.
Thank you for capturing the spirit of the assembly for us.
A round of applause, please, for Melanie.
The next speaker was part of the assembly with business and private sector.
A warm welcome to La Gucci from the advocacy lead at GSMA.
Leila, please.
Thank you very much.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.
I will share some insights from the business assembly that we had yesterday.
I'm already starting to see some common threads through all of the assemblies as we're going through this day.
The objective of the business forum was to position the private sector as a central driver for advancing housing solutions that are adequate, resilient, and environmentally responsible.
The forum examined several touch points across the housing construction value chain, focusing on practical delivery challenges and opportunities.
As a person working in the field of connectivity and digital innovation for good, it was encouraging to see that digital technology was brought up during all of the panels, emphasizing how it can be used at all stages throughout the value chain, from the development of building materials to accessing energy, water, and waste solutions.
Several of the panelists lifted digital technology as effective tools, but perhaps their potential is not yet widely understood across the sector.
Throughout the three panels, we heard some striking quotes and I just wanted to share some of them with you.
First being that digitization is here.
Another one was the problem isn't that there isn't a business case, but that the business case lies in the wrong budget.
Then another one, change only happens if SMEs are included from the beginning.
These quotes stood out to me because I think that they exemplify my two main takeaways from the business assembly.
First being many of the solutions are already amongst us, but we just need to use them better.
The second being that collaboration is not optional.
Collaboration between the actors active in the housing sector, but in particular, public private partnerships were lifted again and again throughout the panels.
One call to action was for the private sector to be viewed as a driving force in the development of functioning affordable housing.
They should be in the conversation and they should be included early.
They should set the enabling environment and build the policy frameworks together with policymakers.
There was a clear ask from one of the panelists to continue the conversation after the business Assembly and after World Urban Forum.
If we mean it when we say that the private sector is central to delivery, then perhaps the next step should be to keep the right actors around the same table and perhaps through more permanent working group that can turn yesterday's themes into concrete actions.
That's perhaps something for the human habitat to take with them.
The concept note reminded us that housing is often planned in silos.
In the digital space, we often talk about interoperable systems.
They need to be able to communicate with each other in order to be efficient.
If we look at cities as systems, we understand that all parts of them need to be interoperable as well.
Communicating with each other and working together.
Thank you.
Strong call for collaboration, public private partnerships.
Thank you, Leyla.
Please, a round of applause for Layla.
The next speaker comes all the way from Latin America, from Guatemala.
Mate Rodriguez, Muchis Gci Me.
Hello, Bs Diaz.
I'm going to speak in English because I think we have no the headset right now.
But yeah, we were working at the women's Assembly.
It was like a lot of passion in our discussions and deliberations and also a lot of conviction from where we are coming, from what we want to achieve in this world urban forum.
And even the climate change was completely showing us what's happening in our cities.
We were like, you know, happy to be and contributing.
We were working in different groups and I think these topics and these things that were, you know, like, a The main discussions in our session, leaving no women behind, women transforming neighborhoods and cities, financing adequate housing with a gender transformative approach, climate resilient and sustainable housing housing systems for all women and girls, housing in crisis and post conflict context, informal settlements and gender equality.
All these discussions were having some cross cutting issues and themes, for example, women's empowerment.
We were discussing about allocation of resources for strengthening women leadership.
Without that, you cannot access any kind of different approaches or improving livelihoods.
Proper policy frameworks that include, for example, we have ten years to do from the midti review of the New Urban Agenda.
That means we have a great opportunity in this Wall urban forum and then in the midterm review process at New York.
To improve different things and themes that we were discussing.
We need also to do some cross cutting of all these international frameworks, for example, the three RIA conventions.
We are convinced that we have a lot of things and processes to go and conduct.
We were also speaking about accountability as a colleague and friend from the Graduate Assembly, yes, accountability, women need support to access spaces for accountability.
That's something we were discussing and we were in agreement.
Gender budgeting as well in every area of discussion of these themes we were discussing and we were debating.
Financial empowerment for women.
That means property rights for women.
Without property rights and without securing tenure of land and housing, women are not able to be autonomous and they are not able to be living and improving livelihoods and being productive in some areas.
We also were discussing in each group about bottom up approach in planning and also for doing some in the areas that women can create and design public and accessible public spaces with safety.
With climate infrastructure, if we have a lot of hot in our warm cities, we need to have some kind of effort to do some kind of effort to improve that.
And if we had a lot of rain like yesterday, we also need to have some kind of support for graduate women and women.
We were also discussing about indigenous knowledge and the inclusion in our cities, the indigenous communities.
Because every time we are looking at we have much immigration from indigenous and from the rural areas to the cities.
We need to design these proper spaces, cities, inclusion policies, and so on.
And finally, we were saying that we also need to have very, very specific eviction safeguards because that's something that is happening in our cities that is happening in the dark world that we are not speaking about on that.
And we were also defining that without direct finance aid and support for women's at gradut level, we are not going to be able to do anything.
In this case, we were asking to do a deep review of the climate funds, for example.
Climate funds needs to be, needs to be including housing programs and processes as well inside the events or inside the discussions of that, especially the loss and damage fund that is happening to be much more open in the discussions.
Thank you very much for that.
Thank you so much, Mare.
Last but not the least, from the Youth and Children Assembly, we have Jonathan Som.
Jonathan.
Distinguished delegates, Excellencies, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Jonathan U Ricky, and I represent the young people.
I'm honored to stand before you today on behalf of children and youth and who are the largest constituency that disproportionately bears the brunt of the global housing crisis and livability challenges.
Allow me first to extend our sincere appreciation to the government of Azerbijan and the UN arbitat for the warm welcome and the remarkable hospitality that they have extended to us in this beautiful city of Baku and also for creating a platform where young people can dream, shape, and influence all the futures of our cities.
As children and youth, we deeply appreciate being given spaces to speak.
But increasingly, young people becoming tired of speaking only to ourselves.
Too often, youth spaces are filled with young people speaking passionately in rooms where key decision makers are absent.
We do not simply need youth spaces.
We need shared spaces, spaces where leaders, ministers and decision makers and institutions intentionally suit with us, listen to us, engage in dialogue with us, and co create with us.
Because if the future belongs to children and youth, then leaders must also show up where the future is speaking.
Throughout our discussions under the theme of our homes, our future, child centered solutions, and youth led actions for livable cities, and from identifying barriers to defining livable cities, showcasing the youth led innovations, and re imagining the investment for future generations, one message remained constant that participants emphasized that children and youth are not a single group.
Our housing and city needs differ by age, by gender, by ability, by faith, and by socioeconomic status, and our lived experiences.
We also reaffirmed that housing is not only about the four walls of a building.
Housing is the foundational right upon which opportunity, inclusion, dignity, health, education, safety, and hope are built.
Moreover, a city does not become livable because of the beautiful systems and buildings.
It becomes livable when a child feels safe walking home, when a young person can afford to live in a city that he serves, and when the communities have a voice in shaping the neighborhoods they live in.
Therefore, our bold recommendation to inform the Baku call to action is this, institutionalize meaningful, inclusive, and adequately resourced youth and children participation across urban planning, housing policies, and city governance.
These should not be limited to consultations after the decisions have been made.
It must be embedded in core leadership from design to implementation.
We also call for adoption and scaling up of the youth led innovations from municipals to the global platforms, supported by blended, sustainable and predictable financing systems.
Additionally, we recommend restructuring the housing and urban planning around inclusive and complete neighborhoods and 15 minute cities, ensuring that housing is connected to transport, to education, to healthcare, to employment, to safe public spaces and social services.
Affordability must be supported through the youth led youth specific finance tools that also include the rent support, the micro loans, the rent to own schemes, and also subsidized core housing.
As young people, we commit to move beyond advocacy to action.
We commit to innovate, to continue innovating within our cities and also strengthening the youth actions and solutions.
We also commit to deepening our collaboration with the UN arbitu and partners at all levels.
And this is to support the implementation of the new urban agenda, the next decade of the new urban agenda.
A and also accelerate the progress of the SDG 11 and advance the UN Habitat Strategic Plan, the UN Arbiter Strategic Plan 2026, 2029, for inclusive, sustainable and future centered cities.
We also commit to strengthen the intergenerational collaboration.
This is not just a concept.
It is a practice of shared design, shared responsibility, and shared accountability.
Ladies and gentlemen, years from now, future generations may not remember the species delivered here in Baku.
They may not remember the declarations that we shall be making in this forum, but they will live with the consequences of the decisions that you'll make here.
This is the pact for the future.
Let us not build cities where young people struggle to find a place.
Let us build cities where every child and every young person finds a place to belong.
Allow me to end all these with a powerful quote from Mr.
Francisco Took when he said that a city that is good for the children is good for everyone.
Thank you.
Powerful messages from Jonathan, the consequences of the decisions taken at Baku will have longstanding impact on our cities.
The next speaker is very familiar and working with stakeholders.
It's no other than the permanent representative of Poland to the United Nations, His Excellency, Christopher ereski.
And just to mention, the ambassador is also the co facilitator for the midterm review and the high level political forums and other deliberations taking place in New York.
Welcome.
Thank you very much.
I Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues.
It was a privilege for me myself to take part in the deliberations of join the Assemblies, convened at 13 session of the World Wldwan Forum.
I would like to express my admiration for how which your discussions were for the concrete proposals.
I would like to commend the work that each of the assemblies does to advance sustainable urbanization every day.
But also, I would like to commend the organization part and all the volunteers that helped us to survive yesterday through this pouring rain.
We survived, so that means we are resilient.
I would like to assure you that while the intergovernmental process in New York is mandated to review and accelerate the global commitments, we turn to various stakeholders for advice on how to translate those commitments into local actions.
We know that you don't hesitate to act and we heard it from the early morning today.
So although my mandate is, together with the Permanent Representative Malawi, Ambassador Malawi, to conduct the intergovernmental process, the pure intergovernmental negotiations that will start just after the closure of the World Urban Forum, I know that these deliberations and these negotiations that will lead us all to this final political declaration of the review of the New urban agenda has to reflect the opinions and the positions that we heard also here at the World Urdan Forum from all your organizations and from the angles of this joint world global community of those who take care about the cities and the life of the cities, towns, communities, local and regional governments, grassroots organizations, and all those stakeholders in the process.
I also hope that the zero draft of the Political Declaration on the midterm review of the New Urban Agenda, which was circulated just ahead of the World Ouban Forum, each of you will find two elements, recognition of your engagement and efforts, as well as encouragement to continue your leadership.
As I go back to New York tomorrow morning, to facilitate the intergovernmental negotiations of the Political Declaration.
What is clear to me from all your discussion is that indispensable role of partnerships in advancing sustainable urban development and delivering on our shared commitments.
So if I turn now to the main messages I heard and you expressed today, also in this Monday morning discussion, let me just say that what I will bring to the negotiations is, of course, from the World Assembly of the local regional governments, the strong appeal for the multilevel governance and multi stakeholder partnerships that are indispensable for localization of the SDGs and the localization of financing of the SDGs, and looking at the local regional governments as the partners, as actors, not just merely the providers of the services.
From the women assemblies, we just heard a very powerful message about equality, the property rights, placing women and girls in the center of the housing and urban policies, and equal access to land, finance, safety services and decision making.
Of course, from the various grassroots organizations, civil society, I think we got these three main words that we should bring with us to New York for the negotiation, but also we should share among ourselves.
Inclusion, solidarity, and accountability.
I think this is the universal message for every policies that we conduct, but also it's remembered to also adapt them and include them into the vision of the review of the Urban agenda, inclusion, solidarity and accountability.
Then we just heard from the colleague from the Youth Assembly to the youth Assembly about the participation family oriented, intergenerational dialogue, shared spaces, youth leadership and innovations.
That's also main important messages from that.
For the business assembly, of course, the role and the importance of the public private partnerships, regulatory, predictability and the environment that will enable private sector to act.
So that's what I will bring from these fantastic discussions from yesterday and from this early morning wrap up.
In closing, I would like to thank you again for the very discussions that will be very helpful for our intergovernmental process in New York.
I wish you all the fruitful continuation of this conference and the World Uuban Forum.
Also hope to see many of you at the high level meeting, 16th and 17th of July this year in New York.
So please try to make your way to New York to be with us so we can feel your energy then when we will meet and we'll try to get as best possible result of the negotiation as possible.
I hope you will be finally satisfied with what will come out from your governments and from me and my colleague from Malawi as co facilitators, those who will try to reach out consensual outcome of the high level meeting.
So please also keep your fingers crossed for our mission.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, ambassador.
And just to acknowledge the very important role you play in these negotiations, you represent all our voices in the New York process.
So thank you, ambassador.
Inclusion, solidarity and accountability, powerful words.
Thank you.
Now is our main segment.
I'm so excited about the next section.
Haluk Levant is one of the most renowned Turkish rock musicians and artists and he's a very, very popular artist, not just in Turkey, but all around the world.
He's also a big philanthropist and a strong advocate for the housing sector, having done a lot of philanthropic work both in Turkey and has spoken at many forums about his passion for this sector.
It gives me great pleasure to invite Halk and his band, his orchestra to the stage to perform for us and share a few words with us.
Thank you so much.
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Dear friends, We are here together with ministers and representative from all around the world and important bureaucrats also.
One day, and a disaster could happen to nice cities all around the world, and this is what happened with me and my AP initiative.
We were involved in floodings, in earthquakes, et cetera, and from all around the world, we People tried to send us help from abroad.
Humanitarian aid sent from abroad was not easy to reach us, so it could take sometimes one month to two months.
We are going to go to the UN to build a new chain for donations working under the blockchain.
So we are in the initiative to build such a blockchain so that people can donate much easier.
This will be our next effort.
Lastly, I won't be talking politically.
I promised that to the UN, but we have so much people here and in those last two days, a lot of things happened all around the world.
I'm not going to talk politically.
I will talk in a social aspect.
We see that everybody in the world who is not a Jew is against Jews.
No, this is not correct.
It was always like that.
It wasn't always like we are all against Jewish people.
No.
We cried as children when we saw people in these striped uniforms because of the Holocaust.
So we saw these movies, we saw these we watched all these movies and these documentaries, and we wept with them.
So we are making an appeal to the Jewish community.
So remember how we cried with you.
We wept with you.
Please weep with the children who died in Gaza in the last two years.
We are not against the Jewish community, but we are against the Israel politics, which is a.
There was something else.
Please, a round of applause for the band and for the artists.
The expo is open, so this is officially the closing of the assemblies.
There are the weather is nice outside, the expo is open.
Please go visit the various stalls, the various government institutions.
But before we do that, guys, sorry, we have the closing remarks from the country representative, UN habitat Ana Sowa.
Ana.
Anna is the person behind this entire World Urban Forum from the UN Habitat site.
So please a round of applause for Ana.
Thank you for still making the time after this exciting performance.
Who wants to listen to another speech? But yes, Your Excellency's ministers, distinguished mayors, dignitaries, media representatives, colleagues who've done so much work for all of this, E speakers to whom I owe tributes, friends.
Despite the setbacks of yesterday's weather, it is so energizing to hear about how successful and dynamic the assemblies were.
Today, our insightful speakers program was further enriched by the exciting performance that we just heard of Mr.
Hauk Levet and the Ashburt band.
As most of you are aware, Wolf 13 and specifically the assemblies are completely stakeholder led and represent the views and voices of stakeholders.
Yesterday's assemblies reiterated many thoughts and ideas, but simply put two ideas or two things stuck out for me.
Cities are at the front line of the urban and climate challenges, and we need to build stronger alliances between local government, civil society, private sector, and other key groups and coordinate actions not only for the sunny days, but also for the stormy ones.
Secondly, cities are diverse and differentiated.
Shifting demography from an aging population to cities with useful populations, demands on infrastructure and services, all require us to move away from one size fits all approach.
We need a set of diverse approaches, governance mechanism and urban solutions that catalyze a different urban future.
I want to draw your attention to how the assemblies will influence the week ahead.
I encourage you to represent and surfit the key themes, ideas, and insights that have emerged from the assemblies in the main sessions, such as the dialogue, special sessions, roundtables, partner led events.
It is important that your deliberations are mainstreamed in the narrative of Wolf 13.
Whether you speak about multi level governance or about care based approaches, let's make sure that this message is heard and decision makers are held accountable.
Because as miss Kushan said earlier, we can all be change makers.
From UN habitat, the outcomes and key messages of the assemblies will feed directly to the stakeholders led advisory group.
For the Baku call to action.
This is crucial.
In case you haven't heard, a public draft is already available on our website for your consideration and feedback.
I want to emphasize that yesterday's assemblies were the culmination of months of intense conversations, deliberations and discussions between stakeholder groups.
We owe them a great tribute.
I strongly encourage both stakeholder groups as well as you and Habitat to maintain this momentum so that we can move from outcomes to actions.
The assemblies set very high expectations for all of us.
They set the tone for the Worlduban Forum entirely.
I really want to encourage all the groups, women and children and youth, business and private sector, World Assembly for local and regional governments, grassroots and civil society to attend the events that are aligned with the themes that came up yesterday and also in the speeches this morning.
The program is very rich.
For instance, the grassroots Assembly put a lot of emphasis on community led housing.
So we would encourage you, for example, to go and attend the special session on community led housing organized by UN Habitat.
With this, I wish you all the best during this week.
Please continue to work with us and ensure that all your voices are heard.
Have a great Wolf 13.
Thank you.
A big round of applause for Anasuaw.
With that, we come to a close for this session.
If you haven't got your hands on one of these brochures which describes the program as the map et sector, please grab one from one of my colleagues at the door and we'll see you around.
Thank you, everyone.