SEOUL: The capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, will host the Ninth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF9) in 2018.
UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, as the convener of WUF, announced the decision on Monday 3 November as the culmination of a six months bidding process.
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and UN-Habitat Executive Director, Dr Joan Clos, has informed Malaysia's Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, of the decision during the Fifth Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (APMCHUD) that is currently being held in Seoul, Korea, from Nov 3 to 5, 2014.
After the bilateral meeting held with the Minister, Dr Clos remarked that, in addition to its excellent bid, Kuala Lumpur was "bringing the WUF back to Asia.
The continent has hosted the Forum once in 2008 in Nanjing, China, but it is where more than half of the world's urban population lives," he said.
"This region has accounted for about 65 per cent of the demographic expansion of all urban areas across the world since the beginning of the 21st century."
Clos extended his congratulations to the city of Kuala Lumpur and the Government of Malaysia for its commitment towards sustainable urban development by hosting the Forum.
"At the World Urban Forum, thousands of stakeholders meet every two years to share practices and knowledge on how cities are built, planned and managed".
Abdul Rahman said the selection of Malaysia as the host for WUF will be a boon for tourism. WUF will see more than 22,000 delegates coming to Kuala Lumpur and will be one of the biggest events Malaysia has ever hosted.
"Thank you to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for laying the groundwork which led to the success in winning the WUF bid," said Abdul Rahman.
At AMPCHUM2014, Abdul Rahman also held bilateral talks with his Korean counterpark, Seoung-Hwan Suh (pix).
WUF9 will be the first Forum to be held after the Post 2015 Development Agenda Process and the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development – Habitat III in 2016.
The Habitat conference is a global legislative conference organized every 20 years to review and define the urban agenda and pave the way for UN-Habitat's vision towards a new urban future.
The selection process for WUF9 started in May 2014 with a call for expression of interest.
Those cities interested received a bid questionnaire that was mandatory to submit before 15 September.
The decision on the host city was taken on Friday 31 October 2014, the same day on which World Cities Day was celebrated for the first time.
The main goals of the World Urban Forum are:
Advocate for and raise awareness on sustainable urban development
Advance the collective knowledge on sustainable urbanisation through inclusive open debates, and exchange of experiences and best practices
Further coordination and cooperation within and between different constituencies towards the advancement and implementation of the Habitat Agenda.
Source : http://www.nst.com.my/node/49391
