Venkaiah Naidu to inaugurate international conference on housing, urban development in Asia Pacific region

The sixth edition of 'Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development' will be inaugurated by Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu here today, where during the three-day conference, ministers and senior officials from 68 countries in the region are expected to deliberate on challenges of urban planning and management.

The conference seeks to address issues ranging from crowded city centres to peripheral expansion, metropolitan based urban population growth, megacities and urban corridors, among others.

The conference will come out with a Delhi Declaration and implementation plan for aligning urban development strategies of member countries with the New Urban Agenda adopted at Quito, Eucador for the next 20 years.

During the conference, five working groups will deliberate on different sub-themes like Integrated Planning, Management and Governance Structures and on ensuring sustainable and natural disaster resilient urban development including climate change.

The conference assumes significance considering that Asia Pacific Region region accounts for 60 per cent of the world population and 55 per cent of global urban population.