The city of Gijón/Xixón hosted the general assembly of the Atlantic Cities network on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.
The event was attended by the mayors of A Coruña, Bilbao, Donostia/San Sebastián, Faro and Gijón/Xixón, as well as representatives from Lisbon, Braga, Santander, Brest, Viana do Castelo and La Rochelle, cities that today renew their alliance to work together.
The mayor of A Coruña, Inés Rey, has chaired the network since September 2024, following the term of the mayor of Donostia/San Sebastián, Eneko Goia, who remains actively involved in his role as Vice-President, alongside Gijón (Spain), Faro (Portugal) and Brest Métropole (France).
The cities reaffirmed their commitment to sustainable development, territorial cohesion and coastal protection. The network also called for the Atlantic Arc to be given greater weight in Europe, in a context of EU enlargement towards the east and a shift in decision-making and funding.
As a local-scale Atlantic Forum, the assembly highlighted the power of territorial cooperation in the Atlantic area — addressing shared challenges and creating sustainable and inclusive initiatives, from sustainable food strategies to the role of local authorities in the protection of the protection of rivers and oceans at local level, reflecting on the new #EU4Ocean coalition campaign: #MakeEUBlue, that calls for a holistic approach of ocean and aquatic ecosystems protection.
The members adopted the Gijón Declaration, which reinforces the commitment of Atlantic cities to sustainable, inclusive and connected development.
The “Gijón Declaration” is based on a series of pillars, such as green transition and climate resilience; urban sustainability; the promotion of the blue economy, Atlantic gastronomy and sustainable tourism; social cohesion; Atlantic governance and European leadership.
From left to right: Alberto Laplaine Guimarães, General Coordinator of Lisbon City Council (Portugal), Jorge González-Palacios, Councillor for Institutional Relations of Gijón (Spain), Rogério Bacalhau, Mayor of Faro (Portugal), Carmen Moriyón, Mayor of Gijón (Spain), Inés Rey, Mayor of A Coruña (Spain), Eneko Goia, Mayor of Donostia / San Sebastián (Spain), Juan Mari Aburto, Mayor of Bilbao (Spain), Conceição Soares, Director of the Department of Territorial Management and Sustainability of Viana do Castelo (Portugal), Filipe Fernandes, member of the Mayor’s Office of Braga (Portugal) and Carmen Rodríguez, European Projects Officer at Santander City Council (Spain).
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Press articles (Spain)
