Monrovia – The World Conference of Mayors Trade and Investment Conference to be hosted by Detroit Mayor Michael Edward Duggan has chosen Paynesville City Mayor, Ms. Cyvette Gibson to address the landmark conference in America’s Motor City.
The conference will convene from October 23-27, 2017 at the world class MGM Grand Hotel Resorts in Detroit, Michigan, the USA.
The Paynesville City Mayor was chosen for her relentless efforts in bringing sustainable development to the people of Liberia’s largest geographic city.
Ms. Gibson will speak under the theme “Sustaining Growth and Development in 21st Century Cities: Detroit, the City that never surrendered.
Mayor Gibson’s presentation will highlight the important role city administrators from small cities in developing nations play in sustaining growth and development.
The sharing of her success story in Paynesville will enable other mayors to enhance their strategy in maintaining growth and development. Mayor Cyvette Gibson, together with Mayor Retha W. Kai of Zwedru City, will lead the Liberian delegation to the Detroit Conference.
The Landmark Forum will also discuss trade and investment opportunities between 21st-century cities with the goal of increasing commercial links among cities. Investors will meet with cities administrators and entrepreneurs from around the world to determine synergies in business development.
The World Conference of Mayors was formed in April 1984. The global institution began as the brainchild of one of the United States’ most committed public servants, the Honorable Johnny Ford, who was then President of the National Conference of Black Mayors, Inc. (NCBM).
In 1984, Honorable Johnny Ford convened Mayors from cities around the world to the Annual Meeting of the National Conference of Black Mayors in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
They included Mayors from the United States of America, Asia, the Caribbean Islands and Africa. The birth of The World Conference of Mayors was launched during that historic meeting when Ford and other Mayors throughout the United States enthusiastically welcomed the international administrators to St. Louis.
The first annual conference was held in Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa in 1984. Since 1984, annual conferences and consultative meetings have been held in various cities and countries, including: Hong Kong and Beijing, China, Durban and Pretoria, South Africa, Nassau, Bahamas, Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria, Deluge-St Marc, Haiti, and France.
Detroit: A City Built On Exemplary Leadership
Emerging from bankruptcy was an all absorbing fight for the life and dignity of the City of Detroit. Not only has Detroit’s challenges brought political unity among its people, representing all nationalities and races, but it has helped usher Detroit into the community of global cities with greater determination to practice the highest standard of effective and ethical governance.
Today, Detroit’s leadership is exemplified in the City’s highly intellectual and methodically managerial mayor, Mike Duggan. Detroit, Michigan was selected as this year’s convention city to illustrate that indeed cities, even ones that have seemingly intractable challenges can overcome them and become examples to other municipalities in the global community.
The Conference will review the efforts of Mayor Mike Duggan in shepherding the city’s turnaround. It may be recalled that on July 18, 2013, the city of Detroit with its estimated $20 billion debt filed a Chapter 9 bankruptcy that became “the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in United States history by debt.
Detroit’s turnaround has been due to the prudent fiscal management of the new team at City Hall, restructuring of the city’s debt and by attracting investments from marquee companies. Detroit’s turnaround under the leadership of Mayor Duggan is being sustained and “fueled by a renewed spirit of unity and a commitment to creating a comeback that includes all Detroiters.”
The World Conference of Mayors, the City of Detroit and Cognos Marketing, LLC, the marketing agent for the global investment and trade forum look forward to hosting municipal guests, investors, entrepreneurs and technocrats from around the world in Detroit. More information is on the conference website. Attendance is open to local and international guests.
