The ceremony of the first Monday of October as “World Habitat Day” was held with the cooperation of the National Human Settlements Committee in the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development (MRUD), Urban Regeneration Corporation of Iran (URCI), UN-Habitat office in Tehran and Tehran Municipality.

In addition to the representatives of the UN-Habitat office in Iran, the UNRC.a.i in Iran, the head of the resident coordinator office, and representatives of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations High Commissioner Refugee Affairs (UNHCR), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), as well as representatives of the embassies of Japan and the Republic of Korea attended the ceremony.

Messages from the Executive Director of UN-Habitat (video), Minister of Roads and Urban Development, UN Resident coordinator in Iran, and Mayor of Tehran were delivered during the event. In addition deputy minister of roads and urban development and CEO of Urban Regeneration Corporation of Iran, a member of National Islamic Parliament (Representative of People of Tehran in the Parliament),  Advisor to the Minister and secretary of National Habitat Committee, Deputy Mayor of Tehran and CEO of Urban Renovation Company, Deputy of Meteorological agency and Secretary of Asian Mayors Forum presented in the event and delivered speeches.

During the opening of the event, Mr. Alexander Fedulov, the UNRC.a.i in Iran, gave a speech and while raising issues affecting cities in the world, and introducing the ongoing cooperation of the UN-Habitat with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this field, announced the willingness of the United Nations agencies to cooperate within the framework of the United Nations sustainable development with the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Several topics including issues on housing, urban regeneration, community-based activates, climate change consequences in urban region in Iran and current challenges in corresponding subjects were considered during the event.

Currently, the UN-Habitat’s Tehran office supports joint cooperation in the field of developing urban regulations and policies, and also improving the resilience of buildings and infrastructure in cities against natural disasters. Assisting in the better reconstruction of urban infrastructure, including water systems and schools, improving capacities in urban regeneration and urban environment in the Islamic Republic of Iran is also on the agenda.

The News of the event has been also reflected in the MRUD official website here and the UDRC website here.