The mayor inaugurates the first Ibero-American forum of mayors

• Ana Botella is committed to actively involving citizens from city councils to move towards the future
• The summit is part of a proposal from the Inter-American Development Bank, through the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative (ICES).
• The City Council makes available to this forum its extensive experience that has resulted in some of the most innovative urban solutions in Europe.

 
Large metropolises concentrate talent and innovation. And municipal administrations, aware that \"no one knows what they need better than the citizen\", provide tools for this. The mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella, today inaugurated the first Ibero-American Forum of Mayors, pointing out that "the well-being and prosperity of our inhabitants constitute the cornerstone of a fruitful collaboration between cities on both sides of the Atlantic." It is an initiative promoted by the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) which has its office in the same building in which the Madrid International LAB, an incubator for international startups promoted by Madrid Emprende.
 
At the premiere of the summit, Ana Botella recalled her Caracas counterpart, Antonio Ledezma, \"detained by the Bolivarian regime of Venezuela, with the hope that he will immediately return to his institutional tasks\". A memory that has been extended to the inhabitants of the Venezuelan capital, since \"security and democracy are the pillars of progress\".
 
Atlantic link
Spain - a natural interlocutor between the European Union and Latin America - and Madrid are aware of how important this \"Atlantic link\" is. It is also important for Europe, confirmed Ana Botella, "to take care of that good relationship that has North America as its necessary apex, thus forming a triad that in difficult times, such as the last economic crisis, has allowed us all to move forward."
The 21st century has been declared the century of cities, and the mayor recalled that this meeting should serve to share and take advantage of all the knowledge and creation that Spanish and Latin American cities bring together. The way to channel it is to add experiences and provide support "to be able to develop policies whose main objective is to improve people's lives."
 
Emerging and sustainable cities
The summit is part of a proposal from the Inter-American Development Bank, through the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative (ICES). A project that supports the orderly and sustainable development of emerging Latin American cities that, in the words of Ana Botella, are experiencing very rapid demographic growth.
The political leaders of the participating Spanish cities can contribute with their experience to this urban progress, which in their day already implemented environmental management, security and public transport measures to ensure the quality of life of their neighbors.
Madrid has a very special relationship with the IDB, which with the 1974 Declaration opened formal incorporation into the European industrialized countries from the capital. Thirty-eight years later, the mayor recalled, those ties culminated in 2012 with the opening of the IDB office for Europe and Israel at Madrid International LAB.