The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact continues its development in the Asia Pacific region. Indeed, in the last couple of months the City of Milan has been selected to participate in two European Union funded projects that will involve Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Singapore.
The International City Partnerships: Acting for Green and Inclusive Recovery (ICP) is a project of the European Union and managed by the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) of the European Commission. The objective of this project is to contribute to the improvement of quality of life in participating cities, by promoting sustainable and integrated urban development, through the identification of innovative policies and programmes.
The 10th of February 2022 officially marked the start of the newfound partnership between the City of Milan and Singapore, together with the cities of Taichung, Prato, Taoyuan, Braga, Incheon, Berlin, Gwangju and Athens to exchange knowledge within the field of circular economy, energy transitions and air quality, all under the ICP-AGIR programme.
The seminar was opened by the welcome remarks of the EU delegation, mayors and senior directors of the participating cities. After a closer look at the programme, its main aim and goals, the meeting proceeded with a brief introduction to the cities and the respective breakout rooms. The City of Milan will work with Singapore in the field of circular economy for food for the upcoming year.
The International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) aims to lead and develop a form of decentralized international urban and regional cooperation in the fields of sustainable development and innovation.
On a similar note, the 22nd of February IURC organised a kick-off meeting between the City of Milan and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to mark the beginning of this cooperation. As Bangkok recently became a new signatory city of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, the focus of this collaboration will be urban food policy. In addition to the officials of both cities, the EU and Italian ambassadors to Thailand, as well as a deputy permanent secretary of the BMA, also participated to give a warm welcome to everyone.