The city council of Zaragoza receives this week the visit of a delegation from the Canadian city of Ottawa. The trip is part of the two cities’ participation in the European Union’s International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) program in North America.

The IURC is the largest city-to-city cooperation program in the world and an international reference network for urban innovation and sustainable urban development. Ottawa and Zaragoza have opened their doors to dialogue and partner, benefit from and exchange good practices and identify innovative models to achieve their goals. The two cities started cooperating in September 2021, participating in various technical calls and are currently carrying out their second study visit to work in the thematic areas of transport and sustainable urban mobility, ecological transition and the Green Deal, digitization of tourist destinations and environmental management. Waste and circular economy.

Ottawa has already welcomed the Zaragoza delegates in May 2022 and this morning the Deputy Mayor of Zaragoza, Sara Fernández, received the Canadian delegation. The cities will continue to cooperate until December 2023, developing an urban cooperation action plan that includes actions and pilot projects that can produce a transferable result, since the main objective of the program is to show progress and impacts concrete.

CIRU NORTH AMERICA

The European Union’s IURC North America program pairs European cities with Canadian and American cities to facilitate knowledge sharing through online tools and face-to-face support, such as study tours, participation to thematic events and networking and capacity building. The program is funded by the EU Partnership Instrument and benefits from the strategic support of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy.

More information about ISIC NA: https://www.iurc.eu/north-america/