Under the patronage of His Excellency the Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Al-Otri, the First Arab International Conference on Sustainable Urban Development in Syrian Cities is held on 28th and 29th of September in Rida Said conference hall. The central vision of the conference is to provide contributions "Towards a Syrian Urban Development Policy". The conference is held in cooperation between the Ministry of Local Administration and the Syrian German Cooperation Program for Sustainable Urban Development supported by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, and with contributions from the Arab Urban Development Institute in Riyadh.

The conference gathers representatives of the central government, line ministries, planning institutions, universities and the mayors of all Syrian cities. The aim of the conference is to discuss the status of urban development in Syria and the options for enhancing the development opportunities in Syrian cities in line with the principles of sustainable development.
The conference hosts international experts from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Arab region. They share their experiences on the status of sustainable urban development and the organization and advantages of city networks.

On the first day of the conference, the international and Arab experts present their status reports on urban development, and experiences gathered in city networks. This is complemented by an overview on the state of cities in Syria. Afterwards, the main themes of sustainable urban development in Syria as urban planning, urban economy, urban environment and urban identity are discussed in working groups.

On the second day, the groups present their findings and recommendations which are going to be incorporated into the "Memorandum on sustainable urban development in Syrian cities". This document describes in detail the status-quo of urban development in Syria. It explores on the requirements for a more sustainable urban development and draws the key conclusions towards this target.

These conclusions are formulated as "Recommendations by Syrian Cities" which provide an input to the chapter on urban development of the upcoming Five Year Plan.
Thereby, the central government and the Syrian cities provide a solid basis for seizing the cities' potentials in the best possible way. The cities hereby can make better use of their economic leverage which would lead to a more prosperous and comprehensive development of the Syrian Arab Republic.

Download English Memorandum Towards urban development policy for Syrian cities..

Download Draft recommendations of Syrian cities here..

Download the English program..