Kumanovo, 11 December 2024 (MIA) — Kumanovo Mayor Maksim Dimitrievski attended the Strong Cities Network Fifth Global Summit in Cape Town, South Africa, MIA's Kumanovo correspondent reports.

Strong Cities is an independent global network of cities dedicated to addressing all forms of hate, extremism and polarization at the local level. It works with all local authorities, ranging from capital cities to rural towns, municipalities, provinces, counties, and other regional governments.

More than 220 attendees gathered at the summit, including local and national government and civil society representatives from 115 cities in 50 countries.

Summit participants shared innovative approaches to protecting human rights and strengthening social cohesion in the face of successive global crises, as well as ways to sustain these efforts.

Mayor Dimitrievski spoke about Kumanovo's ethnic diversity as well as the city's priority problems and opportunities to solve them. "It is extremely important to resolve negative phenomena through greater cooperation and coordination of institutions at the local and central levels," Dimitrievski said at the summit.

He stressed that relations between religious communities and local authorities needed to be improved by promoting initiatives bringing different communities closer together.

"We need to be transparent in dealing with incidents and promote initiatives that will unite us and ensure an inclusive environment for all," Dimitrievski added.

In his remarks at the summit, the Kumanovo mayor highlighted the importance of promoting tolerance, understanding, shared knowledge and good practices.

Participants also reviewed the progress in implementing priority activities discussed at the fourth Strong Cities Network Global Summit, which was held in New York in September 2023. mr/