The 4th UCLG ASPAC Congress hosted by the Capital City of Indonesia, Jakarta, took place on 2-5 October 2012 and marked the transition between the incoming and the outgoing president. The Congress was opened by former UCLG ASPAC President and Governor of Jakarta, Fauzi Bowo and closed with the election of Jatin V. Modi, President of All India Institute of Local Self Government, who became the new head of the Asia-Pacific international organization.
The Congress was entitled: 'Resilient Cities: Rethink, Rebuild, Revitalize', chosen as the main theme of the congress and discussed in three plenary and two breakout sessions. Almost 500 participants from Asia Pacific and other regions shared their ideas, knowledge and experiences on how to create resilient cities and to promote innovations in building infrastructure, financing schemes for urban infrastructure investments, empowering community and integrating culture into city planning process, among other interesting topics.
“Urban planning and building design play an important role in facilitating the development of a greater capacity for future resilience. But there are two other crucial pillars to building strong cities: one is developing adequate infrastructure to be able to cope with the speed of growth and the second is preparing people in cities to be able to be resilient so they can embrace the changes needed to complement urban planning”, said the UCLG ASPAC President.In conjunction with the Congress, UCLG ASPAC also held Statutory meetings consisting of a General Assembly, Executive Bureau and Council Meetings, as well as the Sub-regional Elections for Representatives for the Council and Executive Bureau and finally with the Election of the Presidency for 2012-2014.
Jatin V. Modi, President of All India Institute of Local Self Government was elected as UCLG ASPAC President for 2012-2013, and Syed Muhammad Asghar Shah Gillani, President of Local Council Associations of Punjab Pakistan was elected for 2013-2014.
Mr Modi, an experienced representative in Indian politics, stressed the importance of becoming the first Indian President of UCLG-Asia-Pacific, a body recognized by the United Nations. He voiced his intentions of “focusing on increasing capacity building among Asian regions and municipalities” through the “improvement of governance”.
Source: UCLG ASPAC