New Delhi, Apr 16: Union Minister of State for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja will inaugurate a one-day international conference on "The inclusive city- a commonwealth perspective” here today.

The conference is being organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation in collaboration with Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF).

The conference will be attended by over 100 delegates drawn from member countries of the Commonwealth, including a number of local government functionaries from India.

These delegates include Board members of the CLGF, ministers of Housing and Urban Development from member countries, Mayors and other officials from prominent cities.

The conference is being held to overview the approach India is adopting and needs to adopt in achieving the objective of inclusive cities. It will focus on case studies of different approaches in India and commonwealth countries in urban development and housing sector.

The event is structured to have a panel discussion on "different approaches to achieving the inclusive city". Further, six working groups will deliberate on specific issues and case studies on inclusive cities.

The conference will provide a platform to Indian urban sector stakeholders to share experience and expertise with other Commonwealth countries. It will also deliberate on ideas and good practice, identification of common themes affecting local government across the commonwealth, identification of areas of cooperation and engagement of policy makers, administrative, NGOs to finalise issues which needs to be addressed on priority.

The event is expected to lead to initiatives that make the urbanization more sustainable, equitable, human and socially inclusive. Specific themes taken up for presentation and discussion are local area agreements which cover strategies for engaging with local community for inclusive local economic development, inclusive governance, community mapping, particularly budgeting, gender equality and equity.

The conference aims to deliberate upon the role of the forum and the Commonwealth in the promotion of inclusive cities. It will cover a range of strategies such as development of manuals checklists, guidelines and source book for mutual reference and application, documentation and awarding of best practices and taking up suitable research, training and advocacy to motivate, sensitize, support encourage and engage stakeholders for promotion of inclusive city. (ANI)