General
We have prepared an ambitious programme, which should lead us from first an exploration of the key issues in their context of a changing international arena, to the adoption in the fourth and final plenary session of the ‘The Hague Agenda on City Diplomacy: towards a stronger role for local governments in conflict prevention, peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction’.

This ‘The Hague Agenda on City Diplomacy’ is intended to be a political action plan, a tool for increasing the impact and effectiveness of City Diplomacy, an instrument for raising awareness about what City Diplomacy is and how it can contribute to a more secure world. It will define the longer-term perspective for City Diplomacy, as well as the challenges and concrete actions to be undertaken by local governments and UCLG. A number of these are aimed at other stakeholders like intergovernmental organisations and national governments, NGOs and academic institutions. This Agenda will only be relevant if it on the one hand builds on existing experiences and the reality on the ground, and on the other hand is ambitious and inspiring enough to mobilise the energies and the capacities of more local governments for peace-building.

All participants will receive the draft of ‘The Hague Agenda on City Diplomacy’ with the conference documents. The programme has been designed in such a way that at the end of the conference we will have a redrafted Agenda, expressing the conclusions of the various sessions.

The conference facilitator, Mr. Jan Pronk, former UN Special Envoy for Sudan, and former Minister for Development Cooperation in The Netherlands, not only knows the conference themes from his own experience, but is also an excellent facilitator, who will ensure that the plenary sessions are more interactive than you are used to at international conferences. Much effort is also being invested in preparing the various parallel sessions with the respective chairpersons, speakers and rapporteurs. The facilitator, together with the group of rapporteurs and a few editors, will be working to ensure the best possible connections and continuity between the various parts of the programme.

The first day will focus on an analysis of the ‘current state of affairs and challenges’, whereas the second day aims to define ‘the way forward’.

Thursday 12 June
The first day will provide a lot of opportunities for exchange of experience, presenting various case-studies from around the world, first in a plenary presentation and discussion of findings from the research which is currently taking place, and then in two rounds of parallel sessions. Some parallel sessions will take the form of a round-table, or present and debate topical issues rather than case-studies.

The first round of parallel sessions will focus on the role of local governments in promoting social cohesion and in dealing with conflicts in their own community, whereas the second round will focus more on the role, or potential role, of local governments from outside the conflict area in supporting local governments in the conflict area. In other words: we first want to ‘prove’ that local governments can play a positive role in relation to conflicts in their own environment, before we ‘claim’ a role in conflict-related international cooperation.

Friday 13 June
The second day starts with a plenary session to share the findings and conclusions of the first day and to see how these can guide our discussions in the parallel sessions following the plenary. Together, these parallel sessions will focus on the various forms of City Diplomacy, such as lobbying and advocacy, solidarity campaigns, support through projects, co-operation between local governments and civil society, and the challenges related to these various activities. This in turn will contribute to the adoption of a well-founded and inspiring ‘The Hague Agenda on City Diplomacy’, which we can all take with us for implementation in our own towns, cities and organisations. The UCLG Committee on City Diplomacy, Peace-building and Human Rights has already declared its commitment to carrying forward this important work in the years to come!