State Secretary Adler travels to Cape Town and Johannesburg for political talks
Germany and South Africa have been working together on the topic of integrated urban development since 2013. This international cooperation will now be expanded. To this end, Gunther Adler, State Secretary for Building, is to travel to South Africa this week. Talks are scheduled with representatives from local authority associations, civic groups and the scientific community about the many and various opportunities offered by joint integrated, sustainable urban development policy.
State Secretary Adler remarked: "South Africa is one of the most important countries in Africa and has enormous potential to the realise opportunities presented by democratic and participatory urban development. International cooperation on urban development is becoming more and more important. After just a few years, it's already clear that the cooperation between German and South African cities and towns on urban development projects is a great success."
Adler will also participate in this year's meeting of the South African-German city network, in which cities and towns from the two countries have been working on specific urban development projects since 2016. All of the ideas and plans have the aim of creating liveable neighbourhoods. Last year, the city network gave the South African Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs significant support in drawing up the country's first national Integrated Urban Development Framework.
The Federal Building Ministry delegation will also participate in the international network meeting of a joint project with South Africa, India and Chile. In the project, Cities Fit for Climate Change (CFCC), the German government supports exchange between three partner cities that are working to reduce their emissions and to mitigate the negative impacts climate change is having on the cities. Together, the city partners develop new approaches to, for example, urban transport, water supply and waste disposal.