United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA) strongly condemns the terrorist attack resulting in civilian casualties on November 13th in Istanbul, which also hosts the Organization's Secretariat. UCLG-MEWA stays firmly against any terroristic attempt that threatens or disrupts the region's peace, security, and stability. We offer our heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased and wish for a speedy recovery for those injured. In this regard, we express our sincere gratitude to our well-wishers and friends in the local governments for their condolence messages.

“Training on Urban Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction for Arab Cities” organized by UCLG-MEWA, UCLG Learning, UNDRR, and ATO will take place on 1-2 November in Dibba Al Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.

The Executive Bureau Meeting of the United Cities and Local Governments, Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA) will be held on 23-24 November 2022, hosted by Gebze Municipality at Bilişim Vadisi (Technology Development Zone).

The 6th Tehran Golden Adobe Award, organized by Tehran Municipality in cooperation with United Nations Human Settlement Program (UNHABITAT), will be held in Tehran on 31 October-1 November. The Award will focus on “People-Oriented Development, Social Dynamism and Cultural Inclusion in City.” The project entries can be submitted to the website until 7 October. .

The second issue of the UCLG-MEWA quarterly magazine MEWA Agora is out. The issue with the main focus on Decentralized Cooperation includes the Feature on cities’ development cooperation in the MEWA Region, the Opinion piece by Sogen Moodley from the Durban University of Technology, the Interview with Tayseer Abu Sneineh, the new president of UCLG-MEWA, and "Wastewater and Municipal Water Systems Management" good practice on decentralized cooperation.

Tehran Municipality’s initiative Asian Mayors Forum, cooperating with Allameh Tabataba’i University from Iran, will be organizing its first international Summer School on Urban Management.

UCLG-MEWA Committee on Gender Equality will organize its first program with the new committee presidency after UCLG-MEWA Congress’22. The program will be held on 5 August 2022, in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) under the auspices of the Municipality of Girne

UCLG-MEWA expresses grave concern and sympathies towards the families of the victims of the devastating earthquake in Afghanistan that hit the country's Paktika Province on June 21 and resulted in more than a thousand deaths and many more injuries.

You are all invited to the 3rd Iran Smart City Expo & Conference, which will take place between July 3-5, 2022. The program, hosted by the help of the Ministry of Interior of Iran, aims to develop participants’ networks and provides capacity building opportunities on “Smart City Policies/Practices”.

Tehran Municipality invites its Twin Cities to participate in the 1st Festival and Exhibition of Sister and Twin Cities of Tehran between 5-9 July 2022, to share experiences and display their capabilities and opportunities for joint projects and bilateral or multilateral cooperation.

The UCLG-MEWA Congress, which takes place every three years, will be organized on May 25-27, 2022, under the auspices of the Konya Metropolitan Municipality. After the first day, the Governing Bodies and the Presidency will be updated, and Congress will continue with thematic sessions.

The EKO-IKLIM (Economy and Climate Change) Summit, which will host the world’s first economy and climate change fair, will be held at the ATO Congressium, Ankara on March 30-31 under the leadership of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce. Within the scope of the summit, Mehmet Duman, UCLG-MEWA Secretary General, will moderate the session titled “Green Transformation”.

UCLG-MEWA Congress, which takes place every three years, will be organized on May 25-27, 2022, hosted by Konya Metropolitan Municipality. After the first day, in which the Governing Bodies, the Constitution and the Presidency will be updated, the Congress will continue with thematic sessions.

The call for applications for the 5th edition of the International Award UCLG – Mexico City – Culture 21 and UCLG Peace Prize 2022 are open! Deadlines: 22 April and 31 March 2022

The 6th General Assembly of AMF and the 8th Executive Board will be held in hybrid format on 9 -10 March 2022 in Dushanbe, Republic of Tajikistan.

The Turkish-English Cultural Heritage Glossary was written by A. Ege Yildirim and B. Nilgun Oz with the intention of creating a comprehensive and practical guide in the field of cultural heritage in Turkey.

Karatay Municipality completed its Voluntary Local Review, following Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and Sultanbeyli Municipality.

We would like to share with you a briefing note prepared by the High Committee of Jerusalem that sheds light on the ongoing house demolitions and forced displacement in the occupied city of Jerusalem!

Kütahya Declaration places Intermediary Cities in an action-oriented agenda. The Declaration includes interesting details regarding the potential of these cities in the post-Covid recovery agenda!

We present you, our esteemed readers, our 31th issue titled "From Implementation to Reporting: Cities Pioneering in SDG Localization", and wish you pleasant reading!