MIGEDC leaders to show 'Power of One' in summit
Leaders from Metro Iloilo and Guimaras will meet in a summit on December 14, to put together their vision, actions and opportunities for growth as one big community to make the city and the region as a premier place of the future.
Francis Gentoral, Manager of the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI), said the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Leaders Summit is a challenge to show how harmonization of plans and projects can be applied in the Metro-Iloilo Guimaras Development Council (MIGEDC) .
Gentoral said the summit is an opportunity to show the MIGEDC member-municipalities how far they have gone with the development framework and invite them to look at their initiatives.
The keynote theme of the one-day summit is anchored on the presentation and discussion of the Iloilo City Development Agenda and the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras (MIG) Roadmap 2010 as blueprints of the development directions of the city and the MIG region.
The presentation, which will be done by the MIGEDC chair, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas, will cover the development highlights of Iloilo City and the MIG region, the best practices recognized by international and national bodies.
Gentoral said prominent Ilonggo leaders representing various sectors, will identify the strengths and opportunities and will adopt a declaration establishing a consensus roadmap for the future.
Among the highlights in the summit will be break out sessions on Experiencing Tourism where participants will discuss sustainable tourism development, agri-tourism, heritage conservation, festival management and the like.
Other sessions will include Advancing Infrastructure development, Educating the City Region that will deal with concern in quality in the schools, and Showcasing Good Local Governance, which is a dialogue among LGUs and international counterparts, for the LGUs to gather insights on how to deal with concerns, like solid waste management, information technology use, infrastructure development.
The CUI, as lead convenor of this summit, does not only advocate for "Power of One" as the theme but even seeks to make the local leaders and their partners understand that there have been so much talk and discussions already.
"It's time to lessen the talk; rather it's time to buckle down and work," Francis Gentoral said. (PIA 6/ESS)