Rwanda To Host The 2nd International Tripartite Conference (ACP /EC/UN-HABITAT) On Sustainable Urbanisation For Poverty Eradication

Kigali, 2013; Rwanda is set to host the 2nd international tripartite conference jointly organised by the African, Caribbean and Pacific Secretariat, the European Commission and UN-Habitat together with Ministry of Infrastructure on sustainable urban development from 3rd to 6th September 2013 at Serena Hotel, Kigali.

The high level conference will be held under the theme 'Sustainable Urbanisation as Response to Poverty Eradication in ACP countries - Slum Upgrading and Community Empowerment'.

The conference will bring together 300 participants, among which three quarters are expected to come from outside Rwanda. Delegates will come from countries across Europe and African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states. They include Ministers, Mayors, Planning, Land and Housing Directors, Development Partners, housing experts and representatives from NGOs involved in urban planning and development.

The conference aims at harmonising contributions towards the post-2015 Development Agenda, and at assessing the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal 7 on improving the living conditions of slum dwellers. It will also serve as a preparation for ACP Countries ahead of the third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III, 2016).

The conference comes at the right time when the priorities of Rwanda in EDPRS II and vision 2020 are focused on promoting an inclusive and sustainable urbanisation agenda. The conference will allow strengthening efforts to proactively implement the agenda of providing decent urban development which is inclusive of all income classes.

This conference will be also an opportunity for all African Caribbean and Pacific countries to exchange ideas on sustainable urban development and to showcase achievements and progress made in urban housing, slum upgrading and prevention.

The conference offers an opportunity of engaging potential investors, key partners and other invited funding agencies to invest in housing industry towards achieving affordable and decent houses in Rwanda.

In addition, it will be a prestigious time for Rwanda to share its best practices in good urban governance and actions towards achieving sustainable urban development; and a platform to present innovative solutions for improving the living conditions of people living in urban and urbanising areas.

The conference will build on the results from the first international conference held in Nairobi , Kenya in June 2009, which led to the adoption of a declaration committing to commonly address urban poverty and urbanisation issues by expanding participatory slum upgrading programs to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

It will also consider recommendations of the Morocco conference of last year 2012 which was held under the theme 'Improving the lives of slum dwellers: Making slums History-A worldwide challenge for 2020'.

Prof. Silas LWAKABAMBA
Minister of Infrastructure

· Rwanda was selected for the first phase of the program that aims at promoting participatory slum upgrading program in ACP countries, which was initiated by ACP secretariat, and funded by the European commission and implemented by the UN habitat in 34 ACP countries.
· African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states is created in 1975; and is composed of 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries among which 48 are from sub-Saharan Africa, 16 from Caribbean and 15 from the pacific.

For more information please visit www.unhabitat.orgor
contact Ana B. Moreno, Spokesperson, +254 (0)702 116 120, email: [email protected]
or Jeanette Elsworth on +254 (0)723 268 135, email: [email protected]

Jeanette Elsworth
Public Information Officer
Advocacy, Outreach and Communications
UN-Habitat, Box 30030, Nairobi 00100, Kenya

Tel: +254 20 762 5518
Fax: + 254 20 762 4060

[email protected]
www.unhabitat.org