By Kay Scrimger
February 3, 2003

The International Affairs Committee, chaired by Denver Mayor Wellington E. Webb, met on Wednesday, January 22, and heard presentations on international trade and U.S. cities, a report on the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development by Hempstead Mayor and Vice President James A. Garner, a report on the June 2003 International Conference of Mayors meeting by Executive Director J. Thomas Cochran, and a presentation on U.S.-Canadian trade relations by Mayor Jamie Limm of Timmons, Ontario.

Ambassador Shaun Donnelly, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, and Mr. Frank Mermoud, Director of the Commercial and Business Affairs Office, U.S. Department of State, discussed the variety of State Department initiatives to support and stimulate U.S. businesses abroad. Ambassador Donnelly discussed President George Bush's economic agenda, including the focus on international development.

Mr. Mermoud discussed the work of the Commercial and Business Affairs Office, including its assistance to small businesses. "We encourage you to come into the Department and educate us about what you are doing. If you are leading trade delegations, for example, let us assist you with country briefings and other information that will facilitate your doing business abroad," he said to the mayors.

Mayor Webb also introduced two other State Department representatives at the meeting — Nilda Pedrosa, Acting Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and Mr. David Freudenwald, Intergovernmental Affairs Officer. Mayor Webb pointed out that the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs has long been a close friend of the Conference of Mayors on many projects, including its planning for the First Summit of the International Conference of Mayors in April 2002.

Mayor Garner reported on his participation in the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August 26'september 4, 2002. He was accompanied by Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown and Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle.

The three mayors had the opportunity to participate in a parallel event to the World Summit — the Local Government Session, organized by the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). "This was an amazing event with over 750 local government representatives from all over the world gathered to focus on what they were doing to make their communities more livable and sustainable," Mayor Garner said.

Mayor Garner pointed out that the local representatives discussed affordable housing, safe and clean drinking water, access to mass transit, redevelopment of brownfields, solid waste management, public health, and preserving open spaces and farmland. They also discussed global environmental problems.

He also noted that he had the opportunity to meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell, EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He, and Mayors Brown and Clavelle also met with former Senator Timothy Wirth, now President of the United Nations Foundation.

Conference Executive Director J. Thomas Cochran discussed the U.S. Conference of Mayors resolution passed two years ago, encouraging formation of an international alliance of mayors. He described the First Summit of the International Conference of Mayors, held in April 2002, in Washington, D.C. with more than thirty mayors from eleven countries and five continents, and the CommuniquŽ and Declaration of Principles they signed.

He pointed out that the meeting in Denver will focus on a variety of major issues. We have found in working with mayors over the years that there is "no national way to do trash," he said, but that mayors share common experiences and common challenges and learn from each other, no matter where they are from.

Timmons, Ontario, Mayor Lim focused on the trade relationship between Canada and the U.S. and thanked the committee and the Conference of Mayors for passing the softwood resolution in Madison in June 2002. She emphasized the need to continue to work toward a fair resolution of the softwood lumber dispute.

In addition to Mayor Lim, nine other members of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) were at the committee meeting, including Jim Knight, CEO of the Federation.