The Board of Directors meeting in Moscow has taken the following decisions:

• To endorse the constitution of a Global Fund for Cities Development, an innovative financial tool to pool the know-how and resources of local authorities  with the financial capacities of backers and to channel this resources towards local authorities. The fund will be an instrument of technical and financial engineering assistance that will provide cities with access to local and international financing, complementing the devices linked to international financial institutions that currently exist. This instrument will provide the knowhow and experience needed for the cities that so require them, while also enabling the realization of diversified processes of decentralized cooperation and facilitating access to international investors. Metropolis will organize a launch meeting in Paris in October 2009 and a seminar Metropolis facing the economic crisis: solving cities financial issues in the new global world.

• Metropolis revised its governance model to foster the role of regional offices, develop stakeholder engagements and communication strategy and review financial arrangements to ensure roles and responsibilities.

• Metropolis endorsed the activity plans of its training institute as well as the activities of the delegations of the institute in Mashad, Seoul and Cairo.

• Metropolis proposed Barcelona s host of the 2010 Board of directors meeting and confirmed the dates of the Metropolis Congress 2011, which will take place the 4th-7th April in Cairo.

• Metropolis endorsed an MOU with the IAC, International Assembly of Capital and Big Cities as well as the candidature of region Ile de France to host the Olympiade des Metiers 2013.

The Board of Directors approved, as well, the incorporation of the following 5 cities, which had applied for membership as active members of Metropolis: Karnataka government (Bangalore), Caracas, Ecatepec, Gauteng Province and Ulsan.

Following the incorporation of these new cities, Metropolis counts up to date with 108 active members.

Moscow, 28th May 2009

Conclusiones:

Cities without barriers

Megacities