37^th General Assembly of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe was organized in Strasburg, France.
Izmir Metropolitan Mayor Tunç Soyer has been trusted with a key role in Europe. Tunç Soyer attended to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, a platform representing over 150 thousand local and regional authorities from 47 member states, and, at this Congress, he was elected as one of the Vice Presidents of the Council of Regional Authorities. Being appointed to this office, Mr. Soyer has also assumed a key responsibility as the sole office member representing a Turkish city in the Congress. The Office is the most competent body of the Congress that prepares proposals about the strategies and practices of local authorities. Tunç Soyer shall be responsible for representing and defending priorities and preferences of Turkish and other European local authorities.

Izmir Metropolitan Mayor Tunç Soyer gave a vote of thanks after being appointed to this new office and said: “Local and regional authorities cooperate more often and hence increase their ability to come up with local solutions to global problems. I wanted to have this office to improve cross-border cooperation of cities and to solve global problems. I would like to thank all members of the Congress who has given me the chance of working on issues such as democracy, human rights, sustainable development goals and immigration as the “Vice President”. I believe that Izmir, a city with a 8 thousand 500 year history, 4.5-million population, important geographical location and experience in cultural, economic and social areas, will have key contributions to the works of this Congress”.

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities has been the key body representing local and regional authorities of the Council of Europe since 1949. The Congress functions as a forum where over 100 thousand elect representatives can share their experiences and explain their views to the governments. The theme of this year’s Congress meeting was “Mayors Protecting Democracy”.