U.S. Supports June 27-28 Urban Governance Conference for South Asia

June 27, 2007

HYDERABAD –A U.S. government supported conference on “Good Urban Governance in Southern Asia” began here today, with participation from government and civil society delegates from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The two-day conference and follow-on training is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the Ministry of Urban Development, the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, and USAID partner The Communities Group.

In his inaugural address, U.S. Consul General for South India David Hopper said: “We all know that Asia is home to some of the world’s largest cities. These cities are also the economic engines of the region. In India alone, cities contribute to almost 60% of the country’s gross domestic product. With better infrastructure and expansion of city services, economic growth could be even higher.”

“Forums such as this one are all the more meaningful because they help local decision makers to understand successful practices that have been developed within the region to deal with the challenges of rapid urbanization,” Mr. Hopper noted.

Dr. Bhichit Rattakul, the Executive Director of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center based in Thailand, gave a keynote address. The objective of the conference is to share examples of successful urban governance practices in South Asia documented by a USAID project (2001 to 2007) and to establish a South Asia Regional Cities Forum to sustain information exchange and learning.

A training workshop on Good Governance for Building Resilient Cities will follow the conference. Participants will learn how to be prepared for natural disasters including vulnerability assessment and post disaster recovery planning.