New York – Abu Dhabi will host the tenth session of the World Urban Forum in 2020. It will be the first forum to be held in the Arab region and will focus on implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

The capital of United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, has been chosen to host the tenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF10) in 2020. The announcement was made by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) as convener of the World Urban Forum.

WUF10 will be the first forum to be held in the Arab region. Dr Joan Clos, UN Under-Secretary-General and UN-Habitat Executive Director, highlighted the importance of organising WUF10 in a region that has experienced rapid urbanisation in recent years and is now focusing on directing urban development in a sustainable manner.

Like the ninth session of the World Urban Forum, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur in February 2018, WUF10 will be particularly relevant to the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, which was adopted in Quito last year.

“WUF9 and WUF10 are key platforms where we will be able to review how we are all managing sustainable urban development, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and implementing the New Urban Agenda,” said Clos.

The New Urban Agenda specifically recognises the World Urban Forum as a platform to report in the implementation of the Agenda and incorporate input from multilateral organisations, civil society, the private sector and academia. Described as the world’s “premier conference on urban issues,” the World Urban Forum has been convened by UN-Habitat since 2002.