The International Municipal BRICS Forum presented the participants and attendees with an "opportunity to meet so many partners from different angles," thus creating the potential to form "partnerships in the days ahead," according to Julius Fuli, Municipal Councilor of the Tubah Municipality, Cameroon.
"If linked up with other municipalities, it is going to open an arena for us to always get into interacting with [one] another, sharing knowledge and technology and sharing finances among ourselves and developing ourselves," Fuli explains.
African municipalities are interested in working with their Russian counterparts, since the former are "seen as partners as opposed to be seen as beggars," as Lungelo Buthelezi, Project Executive at eThekwini Municipality, puts it.
"We have a lot to offer and whoever engages us, we believe should be engaging us at a partner level as opposed to a master-servant kind of setup [...] So the question was why choose Russia is because it makes sense, it makes business sense, it makes social sense, it also makes political sense," Buthelezi says.
Moscow's urban development has sparked interest from African municipalities. In particular, "access to transport and information" in Russia's capital can "play a significant role in terms of improving our transportation system," according to France Nhlapo, Provincial Chairperson (KwaZulu Natal) at National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"[From] collaboration with the city of Moscow and also [with] business partners here, there can be really economic spin-offs for the city of eThekwini," Nhlapo explains.
To hear what else the key speakers had to say, as well as insights on urban development, check out the entire episode of the AfroVerdict podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
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