Brussels, 21/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - Having been invited to Washington by the US Conference of Mayors (USCM) to address its 79th Winter Plenary Session, Committee of the Regions (CoR) President Mercedes Bresso took her message of greater trans-Atlantic cooperation on climate action to President Barack Obama on Friday 21 January. Among the topics discussed by the delegation of mayors were the role played by local government in the US in promoting energy efficiency, developing renewable energies and generating green growth and jobs - a role that is mirrored by their counterparts in the EU.
The previous day, Thursday 20 January, Bresso put to the USCM plenary session a raft of concrete measures to help mayors on both sides of the Atlantic tackle climate change. She told an audience of over 200 US mayors: “Across the Atlantic, we share similar challenges and goals: fighting climate change, improving the quality of life in our cities; boosting the 'green economy' to create jobs; engaging more with our citizens. We know how tough these challenges are, but also how great the rewards will be if we succeed, and how much more effective we will be if we work together. That is the spirit behind the Memorandum we signed in October. We have a great deal to learn from each other, and that is why the town-twinning and exchange programmes will be so important: they will help us to learn from each other's ideas, and to take them back home with us for the benefit of all”.
At the invitation of USCM President Elizabeth B. Kautz, who signed the cooperation agreement with her CoR counterpart last October in Brussels, under the auspices of EU Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard, Bresso was able to share her vision of trans-Atlantic cooperation with a wide range of dignitaries, including USCM Vice-President and mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Caroline Kennedy, who will lead the celebrations commemorating the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.
Bresso will also meet the EU's ambassador in Washington, João Vale de Almeida, to discuss how the CoR can help develop EU-US relations, for example, by facilitating more direct contact at the grass-roots level through the development of town-twinning. Bresso's US visit marks a new chapter in inter-institutional relations, with the CoR benefitting for the first time from the support of the EU Delegation in Washington and the new European External Action Service, created earlier this month, the CoR says in a press release. (G.B./transl.rt)