Will the global 2020 agenda be virtual?

A joint meeting of the International Committee and the National Committee of the V Local Development Forum was held on 24 April. The following day a meeting of the Global Task Force, the space that brings together local and regional organizations, to address the global agenda in a coordinated manner. Both meetings noted the difficulty of maintaining the agenda for 2020, because, beyond the confines, travel impediments will persist for many months.

2020 was, as the president of ORU Fogar, Abdessamad Sekkal explains in the article of the last newsletter of 2019, the "Key Year". There will be ten left for the fulfilment of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda.  And it was a key year, too, for the implementation of the Paris Agreement for the Reduction of Greenhouse Gases. The major events on the global agenda for this year, from the United Nations Hight Level Political Forum in New York, to the European Week, to COP26. However, they will either not be able to be held or will have very different formats than usual.

At the meeting of the Organizing Committee of the V Forum of Local Economic Development of Córdoba, Argentina, which was to be held from May 6 to 8, the hosts presented a plan to hold a Forum. This plan enables the participation of Argentines and those who could move to Córdoba, but also virtually, for those who had difficulties to come. The date, currently open, would be between the last months of 2020 and the first months of 2021.

With this open possibility, there are already many events that have been postponed. The COP26 that was to be held in Glasgow has moved to 2021, not in vain, the congress hall where it was to be held today is a space authorized as a hospital. The COP15 on Edinburgh Biodiversity, where Region4 was supposed to have a strong presence, has also been postponed to 2021.

Meanwhile, the United Nations is holding the Hight Level Political Forum, which includes, for the 13th of July, the Third Forum of Local and Regional Government, but everyone doubts that it can be held in public presential.  The European Week of Regions and Cities will also be held from 12 to 15 October. At this event, ORU Fogar is working on a seminar on SDGs and regions, to be organised jointly with Regions4 and the Assembly of European Regions.

Regarding the activities of ORU Fogar, the Bureau to be held in the Azores on 20 and 21 April was postponed to June. Meanwhile, the annual assembly, in anticipation of the events, there is agreement with AIRF and the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes to hold it in Lyon on November.