International Urban Mobility and Port Cities Workshop was held in Izmir. The opening speech of the workshop organized by the World Bank and the European Union, hosted by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, was delivered by the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality. Tunç Soyer made. Minister Tunç Soyer Stating that they have prepared a mobility plan extending from the ports of İzmir to its streets, he said that the İzmir Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, which was introduced yesterday, is the basic building block of these studies.
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.
16 percent of the maritime trade volume in Turkey is in Izmir
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.”
"Our Goal Is Sustainable Development"
President Soyer drew attention to the epidemic, war and natural disasters experienced in the last three years and said, “We have to continue the struggle against all these negativities with a common mind and solidarity. Now, we have a responsibility not only to our own neighborhood, district, province, but also to every river, mountain, lake and living thing, to nature as a whole, wherever it is in the world. 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.”
“The European Award we won is a result of our practices”
Reminding that the European Award, which will be given to İzmir at the ceremony to be held tomorrow, is the result of these strategic goals and their correct implementation, Mayor Soyer said, “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.”
The aim is to establish a rail-based transportation network.
Pointing out that İzmir's public transportation policy consists of four main principles, Soyer continued his words as follows: “We are working to create a transportation system that is affordable for our citizens, efficient for our municipality, comfortable for passengers and sustainable for nature. The method for this is to establish a rail-based transportation network. Narlıdere Metro and Çiğli Tram are under construction. In the centennial year of our Republic, we will have put both lines into service. Finally, we started the Buca Metro, the biggest investment in Izmir history. This line will carry 400 thousand of our citizens comfortably, without carbon emission and without creating noise every day. We are preparing a mobility plan for İzmir that extends from our ports to the streets of the city. The Izmir Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, which we started yesterday, is the basic building block of these works. Another carrier of the same process is that İzmir has received the title of the world's first CittaSlow Metropol. The contributions of the European Union Delegation to Turkey, the World Bank, and other local, national and international stakeholders, with whom we work in solidarity in the formation of these concrete outputs, are extremely valuable. I believe that this workshop will produce very important results with the inspiration it will draw from İzmir's history and port identity. We are already ready for the decisions that experts and scientists will make regarding the formation of İzmir's green transportation policies. We will do our best to implement the decisions with great seriousness and care.”
“We trust our partnership with Turkey”
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. As part of this transformation, as its implementer, Mr. President Tunç SoyerThank you. We trust our partnership with Turkey. “Whatever needs to be done, we will do it hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder.”
“We will talk about sea transportation in İzmir”
World Bank Regional Director for Infrastructure Charles Joseph Cormier, who attended the workshop via video conference, drew attention to the importance of issues such as port cities, access to opportunities, protection of vulnerable groups, and security of cities. "Today, we will also focus on the steps taken by Turkey on climate," said Cormier. Stating that they reiterated their commitment to meet more frequently, Cormier stated that he found the workshop important to take one more step in carbon reduction.
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