Texas Border Business
Laredo, Texas – This week, the City of Laredo was honored to be a co-host of the Binational Forum for Metropolitan Management: Vision. Along with the City of Nuevo Laredo Mayor, Carmen Lilia Canturosas, and UN-Habitat, the City of Laredo participated in the two day event in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas to engage in a global dialogue for the transformation of borders with a metropolitan vision, identify opportunities for binational cooperation and the implementation of policies for social and economic impact that will improve the quality of life for those living in the border. Both cities were chosen by UN-Habitat to showcase their binational cooperation due to their strong ties. Both cities welcomed UN-Habitat representatives, Maria del Pilar and Rafael Forero.
The Binational Forum for Metropolitan Management is the first international forum to initiate the dialogue for comprehensive management of binational metropolises. The main objective of the forum was to define a roadmap towards metropolitan integration in the U.S.-Mexico border, which should serve as an inspiring experience for other binational metropolitan areas around the world, that will be presented at the UN-Habitat World Urban Forum 11 in Katowice, Poland in June 2022.
The first event took place at the Centro Cultural de Nuevo Laredo and involved various panels. Mayors Pete Saenz and Canturosas participated in a panel, moderated by Maria del Pilar, to discuss challenges the border faces and areas of opportunity for both cities. In addition, Public Works Director, John Orfila, and Engineer Director, Ramon Chavez, engaged in a panel to discuss the standard procedures and regulations behind city planning and engineering projects. On December 1st, both city mayors, UN-Habitat, and federal representatives met in Nuevo Laredo’s Council Chambers to sign the Metropolitan Binational Declaration as a commitment to continue working together towards a common goal of improving quality of life and metropolitan management on both cities.
“Our objectives during this forum were to showcase our strengths, point out our challenges, and identify potential opportunities to empower our border. All possible through these meaningful conversations that took place,” states Mayor Pete Saenz. “These conversations should serve as an inspiration for representatives from other binational metropolitan areas who have visited us today to improve their quality of life and increase prosperity in their cities with innovative and sustainable models. This forum and declaration is a commitment to continuously work together for a better Mexico, America, a global environment, a better Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. It is fortunate and opportunistic that we have partnered with UN-Habitat, who will now assist in advocating for who we are and what we stand for, which is a strong economic region with the willingness and vision to become even more potent.”
