World Cities Project: EU-Japan Policy Dialogue
Working with ICLEI World Secretariat, JO held the first working meeting of the EU-Japan Municipal Dialogue on Urban Policy in Tokyo. The project is funded by the European Commission Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO). Delegations from four European cities, including Riga (Latvia), Leipzig (Germany), Växjö (Sweden), and Burgas (Bulgaria), visited Japan to exchange challenges and best practices on compact city development in light of an aging and declining population and low-carbon development with Japanese cities (Kitakyushu, Kumamoto, Shimokawa, and Toyama). On August 31 and September 1, ICLEI hosted a working meeting for the participating cities, which was attended also by representatives of DG REGIO and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, a partner of this project. The European cities then visited their respective partner Japanese cities from September 2 to 4 to further share their experiences and knowledge on the project themes