Mayors of Fongo Tongo (Cameroon), Montreal (Canada) and Bastogne (Belgium) join international leadership Mayors for Peace

February 4, 2010

Today we have the pleasure to announce that the Mayors of Bastogne (Belgium), Montreal (Canada) and Fongo-Tongo (Cameroon) have accepted to join the international political leadership of Mayors for Peace through Associate Membership of the 2020 Vision Campaign Association, This as a first step towards eventual Vice-Presidency of the organisation which is growing very rapidly.

Associate Members are expected to take leadership in their country or region concerning capacity building, including membership recruitment, policial lobby-work, involving national association of local authorities, fundraising and joining the annual strategic meetings. The next meeting is planned during the NPT Review Conference at the UN next May.

Associate Membership is a new category approved by Mayors for Peace as a first step for a growing number of cities to join the Executive Conference and eventually be welcomed as Vice-President Cities during the next general Conference of Mayors for Peace in 2013.

You can view the actual Executive Cities of Mayors for Peace on http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/english/membercity/executive.html
This map helps to remind the regional balance we're seeking, while it also illustrates the strength of our actual leadership.

Following numbers speak for themselves. You will note that membership is linked with leadership.

Out of the 15 Executive members 9 are from Europe (60%), 4 from Asia (26,66%), 1 from North America (6,66%) and 1 from Oceania (6,66%).

With 3,562 members on February 1st 2010 Europe remains the region with most members (1,866 – 52,38%), followed by Asia (951 – 26,69%). Latin America and the Caribbean and North-America (both 232 – 6,51%), Africa (164 – 4,60%) and Oceania (97 – 2,72%).

These numbers illustrate the areas where we have had a strong leadership established (Europe and Japan) and priority areas for expansion: Oceania, Africa, Latin-America and the Caribbean, North America and Asia (outside Japan and Iraq).

South-Asia and Middle East should be priority regions for the obvious reasons. However, also in Europe we need to further expand our leadership as some common members their exemplary informal leadership needs to be acknowledged, and we also need to take into account the political importance to build a critical leadership in this region which remains in the grips of NATO's nuclear policies.

Fongo-Tongo is the first African city to join the political leadership of Mayors for Peace. Speciaql welcome therefore to Mr. Daniel Tsakem, the Mayor of Fongo Tongo. The fast growth in Cameroon is the result of ongoing efforts by Jean-Paul Nanfack, Vice Mayor of Fongo-Tongo in charge of International Cooperation. Cameroon now counts 54 members, the highest number in Africa. Fongo-Tongo is also planning to play a role to develop Mayors for Peace in West Africa.

The decision of Montreal was reached after careful consideration by Mayor Gerald Tremblay and the international relations department. Montreal is a sister-city of Hiroshima and agreed to represent and build capacity in the French speaking part of Canada. As a firm sign of commitment Montreal also agreed to donate 5,000CAN$. The Mayor of Whistler has been invited to join the leadership for the English speaking part of Canada. We are waiting for his decision. Canada counts 77 members of Mayors for Peace.

Bastogne is the Belgian city in the southern region of Belgium which has secured the regional secretariat for Mayors for Peace since November 2008. Bstogne was caught in the midst of the Battle of the Ardennes during the Second World War. Mayor Philippe Collard, also Member of the Belgian Parliament, plays a critical role. Wallonia now counts 94 members or 35,87% of the 262 Mayors in Wallonia. Efforts are underway to increase this number through a cross-party initiative and call all members for voluntary financial contributions. Bastogne is the third Belgian city joining the international leadership of Mayors for Peace with the City of Brussels coordinating the campaign in the Brussels region where 15 of the 19 Mayors have joined (78,94%) and Ypres in the Flemish region where 239 (77,59%) of the 308 Flemish Mayors have joined Mayors for Peace .

Following careful consultations another 11 Mayors have been invited to becone Associate Members. In Europe the Mayors of Basel & Lausanne (Switwerland), Ovar (Portugal) and Luxembourg City (Luxembourg) have received an invitation to join the international leadership. As mentioned earlier in North-America Whistler (Canada) was invited while in Latin-America Matagalpa (Nicaragua), Montevideo (Uruguay), Mexico City (Mexico), Mora (Costa Rica) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) are now considering joining the leadership, In the Pacific the Mayor of Faa'a (Polynesia) has also been asked to bring his experience on board. The Mayor of Faa'a was very active to demand a halt of the French nuclear testing campaign in Polynesia.

Many other cities are now being considered to be invited. There also negotiations with the US Conference of Mayors to join the leadership of Mayors for Peace.

Any suggestions for new Associate Members are welcome. Please contact Pol Dhuyvetter, the international development director, if you want to nominate a City. Please mail your suggestions to pol@2020visioncampaign.org