Egypt`s Cairo hosts WUF13 workshop
With nearly 300 active participants, UN-Habitat Egypt, in collaboration with the UN-Habitat Regional Office for Arab States (ROAS) and the World Urban Forum (WUF) Coordination Office, successfully convened a virtual capacity-building workshop to support national stakeholders across the Arab region in preparing strong, collaborative proposals for partner-led events at the thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13), scheduled to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, in May 2026.
This workshop forms part of “Egypt Urban Week: From Egypt to Azerbaijan”, an initiative aimed at mobilizing the legacy of WUF12, hosted in Cairo, and ensuring its continuity through meaningful and coordinated regional engagement in the lead-up to WUF13.
In his opening remarks, Elkhan Polukhov, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Egypt, underscored the global importance of the World Urban Forum as a platform for dialogue and exchange on pressing urban challenges. He emphasized that, as Azerbaijan prepares to host WUF13 in Baku in May 2026, capacity-building initiatives such as this workshop play a critical role in educating, mobilizing, and engaging stakeholders, and in fostering meaningful participation from across regions. He invited partners to actively engage in the process and to join the global urban dialogue in Baku.
Rania Hedeya, Regional Director of UN-Habitat for the Arab States, emphasized the responsibility of carrying forward the region’s institutional knowledge and experience following WUF12. She highlighted the need to strengthen regional engagement, and empower partners to leverage WUF13 as a platform for collaboration, dialogue, and transformative urban action across the region. She also underscored the importance of partner-led events as vehicles for amplifying regional voices, experiences, and innovation, and encouraged participants to actively engage and collaborate.
Discussions focused on strengthening participants’ understanding of the World Urban Forum structure, the role and value of partner-led events, and the application and selection process for WUF13, building on lessons learned from previous WUF editions.
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