Invitation from the Secretary-General of the United Nations

Cities are home to half of humanity. While they offer tremendous opportunities, they can also be places of grinding misery. And with slums and poor neighbourhoods coexisting with great swathes of comfort and opulence, cities often show us the enormous gap between rich and poor and between those who benefit from urbanization and those who are marginalized from it. In endorsing the Millennium Development Goals, world leaders committed themselves to improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. Reaching this goal will mean tackling some of the world�s most critical social, economic and environmental challenges. The World Urban Forum -- to be held this year as UN-HABITAT marks its 30th anniversary -- is well placed to galvanize progress. Our goals may be global, but they can be achieved most effectively through local action. I urge all participants to work together and do their utmost to usher in a new era of truly sustainable urban development.

Kofi Annan
Secretary General of the United Nations - Biography