ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF), which works to promote and strengthen democratic local government across the Commonwealth and to encourage the exchange of best practice, formalized their partnership by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 15th October 2019 at the Seventh Asia-Pacific Urban Forum (APUF-7) in Penang, Malaysia.

The MoU represents an ambition to build on a long-standing collaborative partnership between ICLEI and CLGF to scale up and accelerate sustainable urban development by strengthening local level ambitions and actions.

The agreement between CLGF and ICLEI opens opportunities for both organisations to maximize benefits to local governments across the world through strengthened services and resources mobilisation to cities and municipalities.

“ICLEI is delighted to sign the agreement to work together to accelerate local action towards the implementation of global climate commitments and sustainable development goals," Emani Kumar, Deputy Secretary General of ICLEI.

The MOU will strengthen how both organizations represent city and local government issues, and advocate for greater resilience and sustainability of cities.

“CLGF works to promote and strengthen democratic local government across the Commonwealth and to encourage the exchange of best practice. We are very pleased to have a MOU with ICLEI to work together on number of areas be it low carbon emissions or urban resilience,” said Dr. Munro, Secretary-General of CLGF.

Dr. Munro added, “I am also extremely pleased to see the representatives of countries across the region to witness this historic moment. This partnership will of course benefit a number of cities and local governments across Asia and other parts of the world.”