Antigua, Guatemala June 3, 2013– On June 3, city mayors, development planners, and civil society representatives met in Antigua, Guatemala on the margins of the OAS General Assembly to discuss the challenges associated with rapid urbanization in the Americas and exchange best practices for the sustainable development of cities and communities. Participants also discussed priority areas for cooperation on urban sustainability in the run-up to the 7^th World Urban Forum in Medellin in 2014.

The public roundtable discussion on the theme Building Sustainable Cities and Communities in the Americas: From Demonstration Projects to Scale was hosted by the Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española in Antigua and jointly organized by the Department of Sustainable Development of the OAS and the Permanent Missions of Guatemala and the United States.

The high-level meeting took place in the context of the Sustainable Communities in Central America and the Caribbean initiative, which was launched under the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) in 2012 with support from the United States Department of State. This initiative supports the implementation of 14 community-level demonstration projects in the following priority areas: 1) Clean energy and energy efficiency; 2) Resilience to natural hazards; 3) Sustainable transport solutions; and 4) Waste management and recycling (including electronic waste). Representatives from all 14 projects were on hand to share their perspectives on overcoming the challenges to achieving scale.

Guatemalan Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, Roxana Sobenes Garcia

During welcome remarks, Guatemalan Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, Roxana Sobenes Garcia, noted the importance of sharing best practices and valuable information that will assist countries in the Americas to better design and develop more sustainable municipal jurisdictions also know as sustainable cities.

OAS Secretary General highlighted the leadership role the OAS is playing in fostering collaboration on urban sustainability through the Sustainable Communities initiative and pointed to the 7^th World Urban Forum in Medellin in 2014 as an opportunity to showcase best practices and lessons learned from the Americas.

Ambassador Carmen Lomellin, U.S. Permanent Representative to the OAS

Ambassador Carmen Lomellin, U.S. Permanent Representative to the OAS, emphasized the need for collective action to address shared challenges and invited all OAS member states to contribute to future collaboration on urban sustainability through the OAS. She noted that the roundtable provided an important opportunity for subnational dialogue that can facilitate the exchange of lessons learned and best practices. Ambassador Lomellin highlighted the Sustainable Communities initiative as an example of fruitful collaboration on sustainable development under the framework of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA).

As part of a mayors’ roundtable moderated by OAS Executive Secretary for Integral Development, V. Sherry Tross highlighted the importance of addressing the issue of sustainability in a comprehensive way, by studying the issues, generating a vision and emphasizing the planning process.

Finally, Ricardo José Arango, Manager of the Local Committee for the World Urban Forum in Medellín 2014, presented an overview of the four themes that will be addressed in WUF7 and invited the participants to have an active role in this event, which will provide a space for active discussion between the private sector, municipalities, the academia and civil society.