ISTANBUL - Istanbul Municipality on Tuesday hosted meeting of World Union of Big Metropolis (METROPOLIS) Executive Board and Permanent Commissions.
Speaking after the meeting, Istanbul Mayor Ali Mufit Gurtuna said 115 people from more than 30 cities participated in the meeting.
Gurtuna said globalization process mostly affected city life, stating that, ''population of cities increases rapidly. Most of the world population will live in big cities. Importance of big cities increases to this end. This development at the same time brings problems to cities. During the meeting we discussed the joint problems of big cities, ways of solutions, and we exchanged our experiences.''
Gurtuna said they also discussed water problem, waste water and environment issues.
Joan Clos, Chairperson of METROPOLIS, stated that infrastructure investments were mostly made by governments, stating that they were amazed to see the investments made by local administrations in Turkey.
Clos said Istanbul had a great tourism potential with its cultural heritage, stating that this heritage should be preserved well.
METROPOLIS was founded in 1984 aiming to find solution to problems like city planning, city development, environment, transportation, infrastructure and communication which affect world cities.
Executive Board of METROPOLIS convene in a country once a year.
Official membership of Istanbul Big City to METROPOLIS was approved in 1996.
(AY) 30.09.2003