Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, 16 April 2020 – The Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala will chair the "Global mayors CoViD-19 recovery task force” (the operational unit of the world's mayors for the post CoViD-19 recovery) of the C40 cities network.

In fact, the international network has announced the launch of a task force to accelerate economic recovery following the CoViD-19 crisis. The Mayors of C40 are already sharing knowledge and experiences to overcome the current health crisis.

The "Global mayors CoViD-19 recovery task force" will see the main mayors of the world collaborate to achieve an economic recovery that allows citizens to return to work, while preventing climate degradation from generating an even more serious crisis capable of halting the global economy and threaten people's lives and livelihoods.

Mayors will discuss how to use public investment in recovery to create a "new normal" for city economies, based on eliminating pollution and poverty, improving public health and increasing resilience to shocks.

The "Global mayors CoViD-19 recovery task force" was presented yesterday during a virtual meeting of over 40 mayors and representatives of the major cities of 25 countries, chaired by the President of C40 and Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti, with the aim of sharing expertise for the protection of citizens during the CoViD-19 crisis. Mayors and representatives of C40 cities will regularly collaborate on sharing knowledge and solutions regarding the CoViD-19 pandemic.

The task force will be made up of mayors from every region of the C40 network, many of whom have unrivaled specialist experience, such as Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, who served as Director of Planning for the National Epidemic Response Centre. Ebola in Sierra Leone 2014-15.

“Our immediate priority is to protect the health of our citizens and overcome the CoViD-19 pandemic. However, as we face the devastating daily effects of an unprecedented crisis, we must also look at how we will protect our citizens in the future – declared the Mayor of Milan and C40 vice-president Giuseppe Sala -. How we structure our recovery efforts will define our cities for decades to come. It is our responsibility as mayors to ensure that we build a solid foundation so that our cities can look like healthier, more equitable and sustainable places to live."

“In stark contrast to the inadequate cooperation between national governments, mayors of the world's cities are coming together to respond to the immediate COVID-19 health emergency, just as they have done to address the current climate crisis,” said Mark Watts. , Executive Director C40 -. The task force will allow mayors to lead an economic recovery plan from the CoViD-19 crisis that reduces the risk of future global crises by building healthy, equitable and carbon-neutral communities.”

The "Global mayors CoViD-19 recovery task force" It is the latest in a series of measures that C40 has taken to promote international collaboration and knowledge sharing during the CoViD-19 pandemic. In addition to facilitating the exchange of best practices between mayors of the world's largest and most influential cities, C40 hosts critical resources on CoViD-19 responses from cities around the world on C40 knowledge hub. C40 also partnered with Bloomberg Philanthropies to provide an informed global response from mayors to the challenges of the current health crisis. C40 Board Chair Michael Bloomberg is making resources available to C40 cities through the Partnership for healthy cities and is including C40 mayors in the Bloomberg Harvard Local Coronavirus Response Initiative.

“The coronavirus pandemic has created enormous economic and public health challenges for the world. In these weeks and months ahead, mayors will need to address many vital issues at once, including public health and safety, economic relief and recovery, and growing social needs, all against the backdrop of climate change, Michael Bloomberg said. , President of the board of C40 and Mayor of New York from 2002 to 2013 -. The task force we are launching today will help mayors work together to create robust recovery programs that protect people's lives, get people back to work, and help us continue to make progress in the fight against climate change."

Through a series of policy documents, webinars and international expert reports, the Global mayors CoViD-19 recovery task force will provide mayors with the best available data, best practices and analysis to achieve an economic recovery that brings people back get to work quickly, put resources in the hands of those who need them most and accelerate action to overcome the climate crisis.

Additionally, the task force will work with a strong global network of economists, businesses, cities, unions and youth to empower the world to deliver an inclusive and unique CoViD-19 recovery plan.

The task force will be made up of mayors representing the diversity of the C40 network, including geographically, who will meet at regular intervals over the coming weeks and months. He will be supported by the C40 Secretariat and will report to the Steering Committee. Members of the task force, including councilors who will support the mayors, will be announced shortly.

The virtual meeting of mayors hosted by the C40 network also saw the participation of the Director of Communicable Diseases at the Singapore Ministry of Health, Professor Vernon Lee, who shared Singapore's experience of mass testing for CoViD-19.

“Having a comprehensive and targeted strategy will help guide cities to carry out testing in a more coordinated, effective and resource-efficient way,” said Professor Vernon Lee, Director of Communicable Diseases at the Singapore Ministry of Health. If combined with immediate contact tracing and quarantine of close contacts, this would allow for the early recognition and isolation of CoViD-19 cases to contain the spread of the infection. More densely populated urban centers are particularly vulnerable to infectious disease threats. A single case can quickly cause an epidemic within the community. Investing early in pandemic response readiness is key to developing resilient health systems for the future."

C40 knowledge hub