Quito, Ecuador, 9 November 2016 ­— UN-Habitat Executive Director Dr. Joan Clos and the International Civil Aviation Organization Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote synergy between airports and cities to achieve sustainable development.

The MOU signing between the two United Nations bodies took place on the opening day of the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), the third in a series that began in 1976 to reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable urban growth. “By 2050, the percentage of the world’s population residing in metropolitan areas is expected to nearly double.

Therefore, urbanization should aim to end poverty, reduce inequalities, promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, achieve gender equality, foster resilience and protect the environment. This MoU has been developed and adopted towards this goal,”

Dr. Liu said, “For aviation, traffic volumes are expected to double over the next 15 years. Urbanization has a potential positive implication on this growth, but it also represents important challenges. It calls for the strengthening of our coordination efforts on the effective integration of these issues into development frameworks at all levels.”

“Aviation industry is of high added value and constitutes the force of employment and means of development. We have begun joint studies in Eastern Africa and I am very pleased to continue in this line in pursuing the synergetic development between airports and cities so that people’s demand will be met. I hope that UN-Habitat and ICAO could continue to work together to produce new knowledge about the spatial relationship between urban development and aviation.” Dr. Clos remarked.