General discussion were made on developing comprehensive and integrated management policies to increase the Resilience of MENA Cities ( Middle East and North Africa), in light of rising in population density, water scarcity and the spread of serious diseases. While the number of natural disasters around the world has almost doubled since the 1980, in MENA it has almost tripled.

 

The discussions and proceedings of the conference underlined that MENA cities are increasingly exposed to broader sets of shocks related to natural risks. 62% of the total populations of MENA live in cities, so the MENA urban population is expected to double by 2040, and in the course of the last three years, the disasters cost amounted to $19 billion.

 

The Mayor of Hebron stressed that the objective of this conference is to help governments as well local community institutions in MENA to increase their resilience toward risk management with a view to developing their cities.

 

The World Bank, the Arab Urban Development Institute and TheCenterforMediterranean Integration also took apart in the held conference, which was attended by more than 70 representatives of MENA, EU, and USA cities.

 

Dr. Zatari further added "the conference aimed at giving MENA leaders the opportunity to sharing challenges, experiences and lessons learned from major cities and countries in the world that have similar risk exposure and have taken successful measures to enhance their resilience".