The Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (UMT) President and Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Fatma Şahin has visited New York City of the United States of America (USA) to make various contacts and held an online meeting with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) for possible business studies on environment, energy and smart city issues.
In her speech at the meeting, Şahin touched upon the green city efforts implemented in Gaziantep and conveyed the efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions such as smart and clean transportation systems, sustainable energy, bicycle paths, and green industry. Sharing the information that Gaziantep has been declared a green city by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Şahin stated that they want to benefit from the experiences of NYCEDC on green development and smart cities, “The world is going through a very difficult time. In this difficult period, we have to test sustainable development, development that respects nature and people, and more importantly, green development together. First of all, with the decision taken recently, the United States of America signed the Paris Climate Agreement and many European Union countries also signed it. In Türkiye, a new era has started with the signature of our President and the order of the parliament to enact the law quickly, and the name of the relevant Ministry was changed to the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change.”
Noting that they will discuss what needs to be done in order for the ongoing collaborations to continue in the next period, Şahin said, “We need to evaluate what we can do together in the next period. Because we are now in a world where borders are removed. It is not possible to make the world green unless everyone is safe, not everyone is healthy, and not everyone is green in this sense.”
Şahin stated that they will continue to cooperate in studies that will strengthen institutional capacity on issues such as smart energy, smart agriculture, informatics, smart transportation and water management, “We are committed to produce projects together with you as we aim for a child-friendly, refugee-friendly, disabled-friendly, family-friendly, woman-friendly, animal-friendly city in inclusivity and participation. With the joint decisions to be taken at the end of the work we have done with you and the exchange of ideas.”
After Şahin's speech, presentations were made by NYCEDC experts on the studies and projects carried out in the areas where cooperation is foreseen.