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World’s City Leaders debate economic fight-back at Liverpool summit

More than 300 city leaders and senior members of local government from around the world are to meet in Liverpool’s St George’s Hall to discuss how they are ‘Delivering growth in times of austerity.’

Leaders from some of the world’s most renowned cities will hear keynote speeches from Bruce Katz of Washington DC’s Brookings Institute, Greg Clark, the UK’s Minister of State for Cities and Joe Anderson OBE, Mayor of Liverpool at the BT Global City Leaders summit on 18 June 2014, amongst others.

The summit is one of the signature events of the UK’s inaugural International Festival for Business 2014 (IFB) hosted in Liverpool and the city region over 50 days in June and July comprising more than 200 individual high-value business events.

IFB is a global showcase for great British industry across multiple sectors, and will champion UK businesses to new markets, new products and new partners. The festival which is backed by UK government is a key part of its ambition to promote economic growth, rebalance the economy and double UK exports by 2020.

‘Cities, enterprise and urban business’ is one of the key themes of the festival alongside manufacturing, science & technology; maritime, logistics & energy; knowledge, professional & financial services; higher & further education & research; low carbon & renewables; creative & digital.

Cities represented at the summit include Istanbul, Shanghai, Paris, Barcelona, Rabat, Berlin, Vienna, Beijing, Glasgow, Surabaya, Seoul, New Delhi, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Santiago, Montreal, Mexico City, Birmingham (Alabama) Johannesburg, Rabat and Dakar, as well as all English ‘core cities’.

Mayor Anderson said: “Cities are engines of growth and they are critical to the global economic recovery. This summit is one of the highlights of the festival when we will debate the powers and responsibilities our cities need to deliver the best economic future for our communities.

“Importantly leaders from major cities across the UK will join us in Liverpool, helping strengthen our relationships and joint work to ensure that it is not just London and the south east that are boosting the UK’s prospects, but the regions as well.”

Sir Michael Rake, Chairman, BT Group plc, one of IFB’s lead festival partners, said: “We are delighted to be supporting this flagship event in Liverpool. Bringing all the city leaders together at this global summit is a great opportunity to discuss how to generate sustainable economic growth.”

Mayor Anderson’s address will be followed by speeches from Greg Clark and the Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Ms Zhao Wen, who will tell the delegates about the remarkable economic growth of Shanghai.

As well as Vice President of the non-profit public policy organisation, Brookings Institute, Bruce Katz is visiting professor at the London School of Economics.

He advises federal, state, and local leaders in the US on shifting demographic and market trends as well as on policies that are critical to metropolitan prosperity and new forms of governance. After Barack Obama was elected US president in 2008, Katz co-led the housing and urban transition team and served as a senior advisor in the administration.

The summit will be chaired by Professor Michael Parkinson, from the University of Liverpool and an authority on urban issues.

Also speaking is Gavin Patterson, CEO of BT Group plc, discussing the role of global communications technology.

Mayor Anderson will also lead a working lunch at the Walker Art Gallery with specially invited senior guests from major UK and overseas cities, and Lord Heseltine, the former deputy Prime Minister who has a special relationship with Liverpool. Discussion will focus on the powers that cities need to help drive economic growth.

The day will include a session in St George’s Hall about the role of culture in a city economy with a panel that includes the multi-award-winning chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko.

Vasily Petrenko will also be leading his orchestra in a finale for the summit in a performance in the Hall’s Concert Room.

In the evening there will be a gala dinner for the city leaders at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral for all delegates including a speech from Sir Michael Rake, chairman of BT Group plc.

The summit is aligned with the Executive Bureau of the United Cities and Local Government (UCLG), June 17-19, a leading international organisation that includes more than 1,000 cities across 95 countries and 112 national local government associations.

Members of the Executive Bureau will be taking a full part in the summit bringing the benefit of their wide experience across the full scope of the event agenda.

Joseph Roeg, secretary general of UCLG, said: “The Executive Bureau in Liverpool will be the occasion to discuss the challenges and priorities that are common to local authorities worldwide.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .