Gajendra Singh Shekhawat inaugurates 6th Asian Cities Summit in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Jal Shakti, Government of India, inaugurated the 6th Asian Cities Summit at Hotel Aloft in New Delhi on April 6, 2023.

Shekhawat addressed the Mayors of Indian and Asian cities gathered at the Summit to discuss ways to make cities inclusive and climate-resilient. Shekhawat also launched the Urban75 Book written by Indian urbanists tracing the history of cities and urban policy in Independent India. The Book is edited by Institute’s President Ranjit S Chavan and Abhishek Pandey, Editor of Urban Update. He praised the efforts of AIILSG to bring together local government leaders by providing a platform for knowledge sharing and mutual learning.

 Speaking on the summit’s theme ‘Resilient Cities and Inclusive Growth’, he said, “The challenge in Asia is the gap between the pace and capacity for urbanisation.” He also expresses his hope and wishes that with behavioural change in the people, we can overcome great challenges.

Vice President of the Institute Rajkishor Modi delivered the Welcome Address. Ravi Ranjan Guru, DDG, AIILSG, spoke about the institute’s work in local governance and municipal capacity building. Hansa Patel, Executive Advisor of the institute, said that the role of women mayors is important in building inclusive and gender-sensitive cities. 

Kunal Kumar, Joint Secretary from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) delivered the keynote address and said that building smart cities is not glamorous. It is a messy job and needs grit and courage to build smart cities. Dr Bernadia, Secretary General of the UCLG ASPAC, highlighted that building resilient cities to tackle the evolving urban challenges was necessary.

Over 400 delegates from more than 25 countries attended the Summit. The 6th Asian Cities Summit and Mayors’ Forum is being organised by All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) in Aerocity, New Delhi from 5-7 April, 2023.

 The Summit kicked off on April 5, with the third Women Leadership Workshop in 2023. During the Women Leadership Workshop (WLW), experts from Asia and other parts of the world come together to discuss and address some of the major issues on the road towards women’s empowerment. WLW consisted of three technical sessions on various topics, including ‘Women, Power and Leadership’, ‘Importance of Quota for Women in Politics’ and ‘Women Entrepreneurship and Wellness’.

The inaugural session was followed by the three technical sessions and parallel sessions on various themes such as ‘Collective Urban Response to Evolving Crises’, ‘EU Support to Climate Smart & Inclusive Urbanism in India’ and ‘India’s Urban Transformation: Opportunities and Challenges’. Dr SP Singh Baghel, Minister of State for Law and Justice, spoke at length about the significance of the role of mayors in city building. He underlined that mayors can create history and contribute significantly to the development of a city. 

Among many speakers who spoke at the Summit, they underlined that Asia will see the rapid urbanisation in coming years. The cities need to be well prepared to handle the issues emerging from these challenges and strengthen urban local governance system to make cities resilient.