UN-Habitat and International City Leaders, with the support of Shahr Bank (City Bank of Iran) will be jointly hosting the CPI-MC International Conference: Municipal Finance and Urban Economy. This conference will be the starting point of dialogue around municipal banking and the urban economy, based on the principles of the City Prosperity Initiative - Metropolitan Cities (CPI-MC). The CPI-MC provides evidence-based information for the adoption of innovative solutions in the areas of urban legislation, urban planning and design and municipal finance to assist city leaders to guide their cities towards economically, socially, politically and environmentally prosperous urban futures.

The conference is organized in collaboration with the Urban Economy and Finance Branch and the Research and Capacity Development Branch of UN-Habitat.

The topics of discussion at this conference will be demonstrating the challenges and opportunities for municipal finance, which include:

• Developing mutually beneficial relationships ­between financial institutions and municipalities.
• Corporate and social responsibility.
• Propelling investment in sustainable development.

The Conference will introduce and discuss the establishment of a Global Municipal Finance Programme (GMFP). A series of keynote speakers and inter-agency dialogue amongst key individuals from academia, municipalities, private financial institutions, and aid agencies will be featured to facilitate the development of the GMFP. This will promote strategies and mechanisms to establish a platform for the development of a UN-Habitat/ICL CPI-MC Global Fund. The two-day inter-agency discussion from the 5th to the 6th of July will be hosted in Geneva.