欧美文化:UN-Habitat initiates new award to spur urban sustainable development

NAIROBI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) on Wednesday announced it has initiated the Shanghai Global Award for Sustainable Development in Cities to boost urban sustainable development across the globe.

"The Shanghai Global Award for Sustainable Development in Cities will be inaugurated at World Cities Day in Shanghai on October 31, 2022," said Maimunah Sharif, UN-Habitat executive director, during the first session of the Board in 2022 held in Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Sharif appreciated the efforts made by the Chinese government to support the establishment of this new award.

According to UN-Habitat, the award, initiated by UN-Habitat, China's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Shanghai Municipal Government and led by UN-Habitat, will be selected once a year, with a comprehensive award to reward cities with outstanding overall performance in urban sustainable development and several theme awards to reward cities that have made outstanding progress in a certain aspect of urban sustainable development.

Zhou Pingjian, China's Ambassador to Kenya and Permanent Representative to UN-Habitat, said the Chinese government has taken tangible action to support the UN-Habitat by setting up the Shanghai Global Award for Sustainable Development in Cities in a bid to promote sustainable urban development, accelerate the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and promote the implementation of China-proposed Global Development Initiative (GDI).

"The award aims to honor leading cities around the world for their achievement in sustainable development, and encourage cities to take practical actions to achieve the SDGs, so as to promote the implementation of United Nations 2030 Agenda," Zhou added.

He said the Chinese government stands ready to take advantage of the award as a bond to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with UN-Habitat and all UN member states in the field of urban development, work together for the implementation of the GDI and the 2030 Agenda and make joint contribution toward building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The UN-Habitat noted special attention will be paid during the selecting process of this award to cities with achievements in developing countries.

The collection and selection work of the first Shanghai Global Award for Sustainable Development in Cities will be launched soon.