• The ICLEI International Network of cities and regions working for sustainability and building a sustainable future announced the opening of a new office at the facilities of the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley.
• For the Metropolitan Entity, this announcement means the possibility of developing new projects and continuing to strengthen its best practices on the world stage.

ICLEI South America is expanding its physical presence in the region, and the Aburrá Valley Metropolitan Area will host its first national office in Colombia. ICLEI South America Executive Secretary Rodrigo Perpétuo celebrated the partnership agreement with the Metropolitan Area Director, Eugenio Prieto Soto, during a breakfast meeting with the South American delegation at COP23.

The national office will help serve and expand the local governments partnered with ICLEI, support local projects, and deliver regional programs. This will help broaden the Network's reach in Spanish-speaking municipalities in Colombia and throughout the South American region. Its establishment in Colombia will also support the Aburrá Valley region in achieving its own sustainability goals.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to have a more significant presence in Colombia and to collaborate with a region that is trying to overcome its environmental challenges by following the sustainability guidelines that are being discussed lately,” celebrated Rodrigo Perpétuo.

Among the responsibilities of the new headquarters, the Aburrá Valley Metropolitan Area will assume the national coordination role on the ICLEI Regional Executive Committee (RexCom). In addition, the region will host at least one annual event on ICLEI's working topics. It will also benefit from participating in the second phase of the international project. Urban LEDs for the planning and execution of low-carbon development strategies, which in its first stage involved the participation of eight Brazilian municipalities.

The Aburrá Valley Metropolitan Area comprises 10 municipalities: Medellín (as the core city), Barbosa, Girardota, Copacabana, Bello, Envigado, Itagüí, La Estrella, Sabaneta, and Caldas, and has been a member of ICLEI since July 2017. In March of this year, it was one of the co-organizing institutions of the Workshop “Local Implementation of Global Sustainability Milestones”, organized by ICLEI, the Medellín City Council, ACI Medellín and the Rio+ Center/UNDP, in Colombia.

The newly signed partnership is set to begin in 2018 for a period of one year, with the possibility of extension for another year.