Captivating Catbalogan hosts 2017 Asia Pacific UCLG Confab

Samar’s capital, Catbalogan City, is hosting for the very first time an international conference and the minutest details are taken care of.

“From hotel accommodation of visitors to planning activities and security details, everything is being attended to, as this is a great opportunity for Catbalogan City to host an international conference for the first time,”  said Catbalogan Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan.

With the theme Kauswagan Kalibutan: Creating Connections for Sustainable Societies, the 2017 United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific Conference (UCLG ASPAC) and Executive meetings is set from April 4 to 7.

Some 100 foreign delegates from at least 19 countries are expected to attend, coming from China, South Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and the township island of Betio in Kiribati. Most of the participants are local government executives and high government officials of participating countries.

The conference seeks to gather commitment of different sectors of participating countries through declarations, workable actions, policy proposals and sustainable programs in issues related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), new urban agenda, local economic development and sustainable development.

Tan said the gathering of different LGUs government units to discuss global issues is vital as they are at  the forefront of addressing the problems and meeting the goals set under SDG.

“LGUs are the organizations that are in the grassroots in terms of addressing the problems of the people. There are many international agreements and declarations that we have to implement, not on the national scale, but on local scale, specifically those headed by LGUs, like the 17 goals under the SGD,” she said.

Tan further adds that the aim of the international conference is to prepare sustainable programs for the Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction in the local levels, with different challenges that the world is facing from climate change to social inequity

Catbalogan City became a member of this organization in 2015. The city’s membership in UCLG has also helped them in sourcing funds for some of the important development projects. “It added credibility to the projects, making them easier to market to potential investors,” Tan shared.

With the conference slated in Catbalogan, Tan is confident that the city will get international mileage in terms of tourism, cultural heritage preservation and investment promotion. “Catbalogan  is the center 

of  economy, investment, education and government of the  Province of Samar and  the whole island of Samar.” This progressive, thriving, flourishing city – a seaport, agricultural and future tourism destination is poised to accept the opportunities and challenges that mark  its trek to become a fully developed modern city through various investments that bring in infrastructures and establishments to spruce up local tourism and alternative destination for conferences, exhibits.

UCLG ASPAC is the regional section of UCLG, a worldwide association of local government organizations that dates back to 1913 and is the only local government organization recognized by the 

United Nations. The Asia and Pacific region is the biggest of the eight sections in UCLG with linkages to more than 7,000 local governments.

UCLG ASPAC is the regional section of UCLG, a worldwide association of local government organizations that dates back to 1913 and is the only local government organization recognized by the United Nations. The Asia and Pacific region is the biggest of the eight sections in UCLG with linkages to more than 7,000 local governments.

Tan said there are over 7,000 LGUs from the 20 countries that are members of UCLG, representing more than half of the world’s population. - ROBERT REQUINTINA