city network
Introduction
Mercociudades is an association made up of cities from Mercosur and UNASUR. It was founded in 1995 by the government authorities of the cities of Buenos Aires, La Plata, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Mendoza, Río de Janeiro, Brasilia, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, Salvador, Asunción and Montevideo, with the objective of achieving the participation of the municipalities within Mercosur and at the same time promoting exchange and cooperation between the cities of the region.
Since its founding, it has been a constant promoter of the protagonism of local governments, claiming their importance in the construction and consolidation of democratic processes in the region, supporting and stimulating the regional integration process.
The experience of Mercociudades made possible the creation of close ties between its members, the exchange of experiences, the improvement of communication, and the carrying out of joint activities in various areas, from the promotion of tourism to productive complementation, from cultural exchange to the implementation of regional international cooperation programs.
26 years after its creation, Mercociudades is currently the main network of municipalities in Mercosur and the main reference for the integration process in terms of local governments.
It is currently made up of 375 local governments and 3 states and provinces of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, within which more than 120 million citizens live.
Goals
According to art. 2 of the Statute, Mercociudades pursues the following objectives:.
Creation of the Network
During the Seminar "Mercosur: Opportunities and Challenges for Cities" in March 1995, organized by the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities-Southern Cone Subregion in Asunción, the participating mayors began to ideate the formation of an association of cities. The Declaration of Asunción, issued on that occasion, expressed the will of the mayors to create an association of Mercosur Cities - which would be called Mercociudades - and the desire to actively participate in the construction of the regional integration process.
In July of the same year, in the city of Porto Alegre, the mayors signed the "Porto Alegre Commitment" where they expressed their aspiration to deepen the role of cities in the integration process. This document also defined the main characteristics that the new organization of cities would have and established a deadline for its founding.