On 22nd April, at the occasion of Earth Day, the 2009 Global Mayors Forum (GMF) was officially launched. The conference will take place on 16 – 18 September 2009, in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, as the premier forum and trade show on sustainability and good urban planning in Asia-Pacific. It shall be an important rendez-vous for the ICLEI network to connect to urban leaders in China.

Martin Brennan, from ICLEI Oceania (Executive Manager, Partnerships, Political Support and International Unit) represented ICLEI at this preparatory meeting organised by the International Mayors Communication Centre a Chinese organisation in charge of the event.

‘We live in an urban century; some would also say that this is a Chinese century’, Brennan told the Chinese media and diplomatic staff present at the press conference. The Global Mayors Forum will take place at a strategic time on the road to Copenhagen and the UN Conference on Climate Change in December 2009 in Copenhagen (Danemark) where the post Kyoto negotiations should be finalised.

Brennan took the stage along with colleagues from other partner organisations to the GMF, the International Centre for Sustainable Cities (Dr Nola-Kate Seymoar, President and CEO) and Sister Cities International (Patrick Madden, Executive Director).