During the “Supporting Progress in Asia and the Pacific” SDGs Localization Dialogue hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) earlier this month, Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka and Toru Hashimoto, Director General at the City of Yokohama’s International Affairs Bureau, spoke on the city’s contributions to localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the recently published Voluntary Local Review (VLR) of the SDGs, as well as the Yokohama Partnership of Resources and Technologies (Y-PORT) Program.

Mayor Yamanaka noted during his speech that Yokohama’s VLR was in response to the increasing need for and responsibility of cities across the world—home to over half of the worlds’ population—to increase decarbonization and SDGs-related efforts, and added that public-private partnerships and international cooperation are extremely important in that pursuit. He introduced that Yokohama has been working through its Y-PORT program to collaborate with these kinds of partners to solve urban issues.

During the discussion, a question was raised about how the publishing of a VLR could be linked to international collaboration. International Director Hashimoto responded that VLR is a process, not a product, and emphasized the importance of the VLR as a shared language to be used in creating a movement, and for its use as a tool in sharing experience and knowledge in the creation of a common benchmark. He also expressed his hope that VLR could be one of the catalysts for Yokohama to build cooperative relationships with other cities through the Y-PORT Program, an international technical cooperation project.

Yokohama Mayor Yamanaka’s comments: 41:30～
Director General Hashimoto’s comments: 1:48:38～

Links:

ADB Event page

Y-PORT Program

Yokohama’s VLR (PDF)

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Yokohama City releases Voluntary Local Review of Sustainable Development Goal progress