Important Decisions at UMM General Assembly in Bursa

The General Assembly meeting of the Union of Municipalities of Marmara took place in Bursa on 27 October 2009, with participation of State Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bağış and delegations of local authorities from the Middle East. On this occasion, the prestigious awards of the "Best Municipal Projects Competition", organised by UMM and sponsored by DenizBank (Dexia Group), were handed over to the winners. The Union of Municipalities of Marmara, Turkey's most active local government union and a platform of cities from the Marmara region, brought together hundreds of mayors from the region and from throughout Turkey and neighbouring countries. As tradition, UMM's GA meetings have international dimension, with specific geographic focus. After Balkans and Black Sea gatherings, the present meeting hosted partners from local authorities and their unions from the Middle East (Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia). The UMM's Assembly decided to join several international organisations.

"Municipalities will benefit more from the EU funds"

The most important agenda of meeting was the protocol of cooperation signed between the Secretariat General for EU Affairs and the Union of Municipalities of Marmara. The protocol was signed by Minister Egemen Bağış and Recep Altepe, Mayor of Bursa Metropolitan Municipality and new president of UMM.

According to the protocol, the SGEU and UMM will cooperate in various fields such as trainings on EU issues, harmonisation with EU standards and information spreading on the EU funds available for municipalities.

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Bağış said: "This year, significant work will be done together with the local governments. The Ministry of Environment has allocated funds to 17 different projects. In addition, in the framework of civil society dialogue, 4 different funding programmes will be put forward in the fields of culture, art, agriculture and fisheries. By means of this protocol, the staff of the Secretariat General for EU Affairs will provide information on how the EU funds could be better utilized and how to adapt municipalities to European standards."

"15.000 municipal employees given training"

Recep Altepe, President of Union of Municipalities of Marmara, also stressed the importance of this cooperation and underlined the expertise of UMM in the field of training for local officials. "In 2008, 15 thousands of municipal employees and local elected persons have benefited from these trainings. Information sharing and spreading of the knowledge is very important. Our goal is to cooperate with other municipal unions and to increase our training provision."

"UMM closer to its counterparts in the world"

Mr Altepe also stressed the important involvement of UMM in the field of international relations, European integration and cooperation among cities. The Union actively cooperates with the EU Committee of the Regions and the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and is member of NALAS (Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South East Europe). Being unique regional union active on two continents, Europe and Asia, the UMM's objective is to develop balanced cooperation with unions of local authorities, municipalities, local and regional platforms in both Europe and Asia.

In this context, at the meeting in Bursa the UMM took decision to join platforms active in Asia. Thus, the UMM will join as observer the Arab Towns Organization (ATO), with which it has the Friendship and Cooperation Agreement since 1982. With the membership, UMM would like to contribute to the goodwill and co-operation with this organisation, and to improve the friendship relations and information sharing between Arab and Turkish cities.

The UMM will also join as associate member the Organization of Islamic Capitals and Cities (OICC). Cities of Istanbul, Bursa and Edirne, members of the Union of Municipalities of Marmara and all three ancient capitals of the Ottoman Empire, are already members of OICC. Mr Mohammed Hamdi Mostafa Sayedahmed, Assitant Secretary General of OICC addressed the members of UMM and expressed their satisfaction with the growing cooperation with Turkey.

The UMM took also decision to join as full member of the Union of Turkish World Municipalities (TDBB), an international platform of local authorities of countries and regions speaking Turkish language or its dialects. Finally, the UMM signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities (APLA), guest of the General Assembly meeting.

The delegation of the Union of Municipalities of Turkish Cyprus, the partner organisation of UMM, also participated in the event.

DenizBank / Dexia support to best projects

The Best Municipal Project Competition, annually organised by the Union, has been sponsored this year by DenizBank (member of Dexia Group). The competition addresses local actors (metropolitan municipalities, district municipalities, ordinary municipalities, municipal companies...) divided in three categories: socio-economic and cultural projects, environmental and infrastructural projects, governance projects. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and its affiliate companies won the biggest lot of awards, with total 10 nominations in different categories.

Source: http://www.marmara.gov.tr/NewsDetail.aspx?newsId=616