UN-Habitat and Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization Launch Network Eleven

UN-Habitat and Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization Launch Network Eleven

BARCELONA - December 3, 2015 - The Digital Technologies for Sustainable Urbanization Network (Network Eleven), which will support implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11) to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, save, resilient and sustainable” was launched in a special ceremony held at Barcelona, Spain.

The Network Eleven was introduced by HE Dr. Joan Clos, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat, and HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org).

In the presentation, Dr. Clos said “Network Eleven is an important contribution to the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, focused on the relationship between ICT and Urbanization towards global development.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh said “It is my great honor to lead on behalf of the business sector this innovative UN-private partnership network, which emanated from the Integration Segment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council on 28 May last year.”

“This global network is aimed at harnessing the transformative power of digital technologies to advance SDG 11 and it will thus contribute to the implementation of the urban dimension of the 2030 Agenda. The network is to bring together high-level policy makers, urban planners, designers and architects, city leaders and mayors, CEOs of technology companies and leaders of civil society to support countries in pursuing smarter human settlements,” he added.

HE Ms. Anusha Rahman Ahmad Khan, Minister of Information Technology and Telecom of Pakistan said “I would like to urge member states for global coordination for sharing good practices and experiences on the use of ICTs for sustainable urbanization, in addition to establishing platforms and governance mechanism at a level of individual country that facilitate integrated multi-sector and multi-stakeholder urban planning and formulation of appropriate legal, policy and regulatory frameworks.”

The Network also aims to generate ideas to contribute to the discussion towards the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development (Habitat III) and the New Urban Agenda.

Experts from around the world discussed themes related to smarter human settlements, digital technologies for planning and managing sustainable cities.