The "Urban Mobility and Port Cities Workshop", the first of the "Green Transport in Turkey" series, hosted by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and organized by the World Bank and the European Union, started at the Historical Coal Gas Factory Cultural Center. World Bank Regional Director for Infrastructure Charles Joseph Cormier participated in the workshop with the video of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor. Tunç Soyer, Representatives of the World Bank, Head of the European Union Delegation to Turkey Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, and many guests from Turkey and abroad.
President, referring to Izmir's historical past and its quality as a port city Tunç Soyer“İzmir is one of the most important port cities of the Mediterranean, hosting 8 years of uninterrupted human settlement. Today, we continue to keep our city's characteristic of being a port and a commercial city from its history. According to the data of 500, 2021 percent of the maritime trade volume in Turkey in terms of cargo is loaded with the ports of Aliağa, Çeşme, Dikili and Alsancak in İzmir. For this reason, I am very pleased that this valuable workshop was held in Izmir.
Right after I was elected as the Mayor of the Metropolitan Municipality in 2019, we prepared the 5-year strategic plan of İzmir. Breaking new ground in this plan, we covered all 17 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable development goals have two basic meanings for İzmir. The first is to increase welfare and while doing so, to prevent income inequality. The second is to continue the growth of the city in harmony with nature.
Urban mobility is one of the main target groups in our strategic plan. According to the Izmir Transportation Master Plan, it is estimated that our city, which has a population of more than 4.3 million today, will increase to 2030 million in 6.2 with immigration. For this reason, we decided to define a brand new horizon for İzmir in terms of sustainability and resilience.”
Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, Head of the European Union Delegation to Turkey, said, “As the European Union, we signed the Green Agreement. When we say maritime transport or sea transport, we know the importance of ports for cities like Izmir. As the EU, we call it zero emissions by 2050 in line with these goals. We want to extend the green consensus to every area of our lives. We will continue our cooperation with Turkey in these studies and continue our work. We trust our partnership with Turkey. “Whatever needs to be done, we will do it hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder.”
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