The Urban 20 (U20), a G20 Engagement Group, today announced that it is working to create a Global Urban Resilience Fund, the first fund of its type developed by cities, for cities.

Speaking about the announcement U20 Chair, H.E. Fahd Al-Rasheed, President of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, notes, “We have the opportunity right now to learn from the impact of COVID-19, to study how to build cities which are more resilient and agile."

"The cities of the U20 have taken the lead to develop a fund for city action to combat the pandemic and mitigate future urban shocks."

"The goal of the fund is to accelerate the transmission of new learning and ideas for a more secure future for all urban residents.”

The Fund comes as a response to the findings of the U20 Special Working Group (SWG) on COVID-19, which was set up by the U20 Chair city, Riyadh, together with co-chair cities Rome and Buenos Aires.

Mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi commens, “The challenge of our times is the fight against the pandemic."

"A struggle that is not only a challenge to restore the best health conditions; but, more, it is remedying the economic consequences of the pandemic."

"Cities cannot tackle this alone: solid support from states is needed, but, at the same time, it is necessary to pool resources and create new tools."

"The Global Urban Resilient Fund represents an intelligent way to meet these needs, and the commitment of the next Italian U20 Presidency will be to carry this forward and make it concrete.”

The Special Working Group brought together a further ten member cities; Amsterdam, Helsinki, Houston, Izmir, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mexico City, Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Tshwane, along with seven Knowledge Partners; University of Pennsylvania, Coalition for Urban Transition, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, OECD, International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group), Agence Française de Développement and Université Gustave Eiffel.

The U20 is currently working to define the details and modalities of the Fund which will be announced by the end of the year.

Sarah Buckley

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