EU & Japan further enhance city-to-city cooperation for sustainable living
A total of 6 cities in Japan and the European Union (EU) have been selected to work together to create clean, efficient and sustainable urban areas.
As part of the "International Urban Cooperation (IUC)" project funded by the EU and supported by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the cities were matched as below following a competitive selection process:
- Kamakura and Umeå, Sweden
- Tokorozawa and Bratislava, Slovakia
- Toyota and Grenoble-Alpes Métropole, France
Over the next 18 months, the selected city pairings will cooperate on initiatives such as smart cities, sustainability and nature-based solutions, social inclusion and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The 6 new cities, are in addition to the 10 existing cities already cooperating in the IUC project (namely Hirosaki and Donostia-San Sebastian of Spain; Ichinomiya and Ioannina of Greece; Ikoma and Ancona of Italy; Koriyama and Essen of Germany; Yokohama and Frankfurt of Germany).
This international cooperation comes at a time of increasing recognition of the important role that cities play in improving the quality of life of their citizens. This cooperation takes place in the context of strengthening and deepening of EU-Japan relations.
For further information on this urban-level cooperation project between the EU and Japan, please visit the following webpage http://www.iuc.eu/japan/home/ or contact iuc@iuc-japan.eu