26 October 2022

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Many, many thanks for the opportunity to learn from you, which I always enjoy during these ¡°Friends of¡­¡± groups. The most inspiring conversations usually take place in these setups.

We are all very proud of our cities, traditionally.

Not only because of the numbers of inhabitants.

Some 2000 years ago, 2006 years ago actually, the great philosopher Aristotle said, and I quote ¡°a great city is not to be confounded with the populous one¡±.

What he meant was, and is, that a great city is defined by the quality of its people and the quality of their lives there.

Here comes the challenge, and here comes the solution.

Now as you know, much better than I do, since you¡¯re working in this group that over half of the world population is now, are now city-dwellers.

You may also know that roughly every week, more than one million people move to cities.

You are also aware that by 2050, almost 70 per cent of the global population will be city-dwellers.

This means that three-out-of-four people on earth will be dwellers of cities.

Some of our cities have grown to the size beyond any imagination.

25, 30 million.

But the biggest growth might be expected in the range between one and one and a half billion.

We know that in terms of sustainability transformation, we are at a watershed moment.

We either make it or not.

We can succeed or we have to bear the consequences.

And we know that in terms of the Agenda 2030, and in the implementation of the Paris Agreement, we are going to win or lose in the cities.

Therefore, the responsibility, how we plan, how we run, how we develop our cities is enormous.

So in the cities, we have basically two options for the forthcoming ten to fifteen years.

We succeed in transformation ¨C that means a lot to be re-thought and reconsidered.

Or we are stuck in a crisis.

In some parts of the world, the crisis is there already.

In some others, it is just approaching.

Depending on the climate, depending on the level of development.

But, all in all, there is a global choice in front of us.

How to survive the forthcoming two to three years? Which are going to be very, very difficult two, three years in terms of the economy, in terms of climate conditions, in terms of water, in terms of non-sustainable development, and the appearance of the more classical geopolitical dimensions.

On the other hand, we make deliberate policies.

We speed up the implementation of our policies.

And we concentrate our resources.

And our cities will be in the forefront.

Our cities are in the forefront of the Agenda 2030 and the Paris agreement.

So cities will lead the way.

Food, energy, water resources, adaptation to climate change.

But our tasks are wider than that.

We need to build more sustainable, socially, and environmentally more balanced, urban life for all of humanity.

As you know, the new urban agenda presents a?science-based model for a paradigm shift for our cities.

Setting standards for all faces of urban development.

From small to not so small, included.

I am really excited to see your work and am ready to take forward the outcome of the high-level meeting of the April 2022 gathering here in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ to assess the implementation of our road map to a new urban age.

You know that we must focus on all aspects such as power grids, water management, traffic, transit and the human dimensions of insecurity.

We must support action to lower emissions and the better healthy environment.

We should consider that cities are already responsible for 70 per cent of global waste, and 80 per cent of the global energy consumption.

Cities are also often offering us the solutions: They are the greatest concentration of grey matter. They are the greatest concentration of science, finances, institutions for the implementation of transformation, so I am really hopeful.

If we do our job right, we will have the ing¨¦nue for transformation.

I hope that we can mobilize support of the international community to help Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ-Habitat in achieving the goals set already.

I want to thank the co-chairs, the Ambassadors of Slovakia, and of Botswana, as well as to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ-Habitat ¨C for raising awareness on these important matters.

Dear colleagues, you can count on me and you can count on my team.

Thank you.