OREANDA-NEWS. May 21, 2009. The greetings reads, in part: “Your representative forum has brought together government officials and experts from many countries to share experiences and meaningful conversation about improving urban governance.

Mega-cities are the centres of political, economic and cultural life in contemporary civilisation, and this has had a growing influence on international cooperation. Their progressive development in the 21st century will in large measure depend on what we do about such key issues as the improvement of social infrastructure, traffic flow optimisation, energy conservation, and the protection of our cultural heritage and the environment.

I am confident that the proposals and recommendations that are made in the course of your meeting will help create a comfortable living environment for people in our major cities.”

Metropolis, an association of the world’s largest cities, was founded in 1984 and has 106 members, all cities with populations over 1,000,000. It holds sessions every 3 years. This year it will be meeting in Moscow for the first time, from May 21-24, 2009.