Conference "City diplomacy in a world in conflict"
The phenomenon of internationalisation and city diplomacy has long since erupted and has generated multiple initiatives and academic literature. There is no single definition of city diplomacy, but it encompasses the international relations of local governments as actors in the global context, aimed at facing global challenges, sharing knowledge and promoting their common interests.
For the first time in history, the set of global agendas recognises the reality of territories and communities, as well as their role in the localisation of the global agendas. Alongside this, city diplomacy is facing the paradox posed by the international context: there are global frameworks intended to address humanity’s major challenges, yet with fractured consensus. At the same time, we have been in a permacrisis for fifteen years now, highlighting the impact of global interdependencies. In addition, we are facing the highest peak of active conflicts since the Second World War, with democracy and rights in decline, a shift back towards an aid-based cooperation model and a trend to recentralisation across all continents.
In summary, we are facing a context of uncertainty in a world moving towards multipolarity, in which city diplomacy is no stranger to it. The Barcelona Provincial Council, through its Department of International Relations, proposes to take this context as a starting point to create an annual international meeting point for analysing, debating, and monitoring the evolution of local diplomacy, with the participation of representatives from local governments, international organisations, and research centres.
Register
Deadline: 10th December
Program
09:30 Arrival of participants
09:45 Institutional welcome
• Antoni Montseny, director for International affairs at the Provincial Council of Barcelona.
10:00 Comments on the Keynote Paper of the conference on the state of the art on city diplomacy in a world in conflict.
• Jolie Guzmán, Expert on International Relations and Local Diplomacy.
10:30 – 11:30 First panel: Comments on the background document: challenges and opportunities of city diplomacy in a world in conflict.
• Anh Thu Duong, Co-director, Global Cities Hub.
• Rainer Kern, Executive Director, Global Parliament of Mayors.
• Jolie Guzmán, Expert on International Relations and Local Diplomacy.
• Maarten Beks, Mayor's advisor, The Hague City Council.
Moderates: Octavi de la Varga, advisor, International Strategic Projects, Barcelona Provincial Council.
11:30 – 12:00 Break
12:00 – 13:00 Second panel: The role of city diplomacy in peace and conflict resolution; democracy, decentralisation and the guarantee of rights.
• Paul Costello, Senior Program Manager, GMF Cities, German Marshall Fund.
• Fréderique Hanotier, Board Member, Human Rights Cities Network.
• Antonella Valmorbida, Secretary General, European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA).
• Carme Barbany, Coordinator of the Mayor's Office, Granollers City Council.
Moderates: Sílvia Plana, Head of Strategic Relations for the International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP).
13:00 – 14:00 Third panel: Challenges for an effective city diplomacy.
• Joanna Ciesielska-Klikowska, Member of Paradiplomacy Lab, University of Lodz.
• Lorenzo Kihlgren Grandi, Founding Director, City Diplomacy Lab.
• Marta Galceran, Senior Research Fellow, Global Cities Programme, Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB).
• Rahma Ouazzani Taibi, Deputy Mayor in charge of International Partnerships and Cooperation, Rabat City Council.
Moderates: Pablo Fernández Marmissolle-Daguerre, Assistant Secretary-General for Partnerships, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).
14:00 – 14:30 Conclusions and closing of the conference
• Maria Eugènia Gay, Vice-President and Deputy Delegate for International Relations and the 2030 Agenda, Barcelona Provincial Council.
