Ministerial Roundtable

The Ministerial Roundtable will bring together Ministers and senior representatives of national governments and regional political bodies to elevate the debate on multilevel governance to accelerate the implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other global agendas.  

The Roundtable will take place in the context of key global milestones. It will happen shortly after the UN Summit of the Future in September 2024, roughly five years before the deadline to deliver on the SDGs; immediately before COP29, which will include a Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change and a Local Climate Action Summit; finally, the Roundtable will take place before the first session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Expert Working Group on Adequate Housing for All.

The Ministerial Roundtable will explore how the different spheres of governance - national to local - can work better together to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. t Discussion will pay particular attention to multilevel governance arrangements and partnerships for adequate housing, climate action, finance systems, digital technology and urban crises response.  

The Ministerial Roundtable will identify significant global trends in urban development that would inform multilevel governance approaches to transform cities for a better urban future for all. It will also specifically explore good practices and successful policy transformations from around the globe. It will provide a unique opportunity for experienced decision-makers to share perspectives across borders on how best to tackle the challenges that cities face today.

The Ministerial Roundtable is indeed expected to come up with a set of forward-looking measures and recommendations, which can be adapted and replicated at different levels and in different contexts. It will also serve as a forum to make commitments and advocate for new initiatives and alliances.  

Guiding questions  

• What are key strategies, with a proven track-record, that are available to accelerate multilevel governance towards the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the achievement of the SDGs?    
• Does your government/regional or sub-regional mechanism have particular multilevel governance arrangements and partnerships that may be replicated elsewhere, particularly focusing on adequate housing, climate action, financial empowerment, digital technology or urban crises response?
• How does your government/regional or sub-regional mechanism intend to facilitate investments to support the transformation of cities towards a sustainable future? Which steps have been taken by your government to empower local and subnational authorities and other stakeholders in this process?
• What more could be done by your government in the next two years to keep and increase political momentum for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda through enhancing multilevel governance approaches? 

Key Objectives

• A discussion about a set of forward-looking multilevel governance measures with the potential to transform our cities for a sustainable urban future, which can be adapted and applied to different contexts.
• Updates on national initiatives towards the implementation of the Ministerial Declaration adopted at the 2nd Session of the UN-Habitat Assembly
• New commitments, announcements and alliances at the national and regional levels for accelerating the implementation of the NUA  
• Enhanced engagement with the periodic national reporting on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the use of the Urban Agenda Platform