NEWS

         

Our Board of Directors, gathered during the last Metropolis Annual Meeting in Gauteng, ratified the six new members of the association: Greater Manchester, Jinan, Nanjing, Torino Metropoli, Xiamen and Yiwu. With these new members, Metropolis extends its presence in China and Europe, bringing together 139 governments of major cities and metropolitan areas worldwide.

Our new members in a nutshell:

• The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) represents one of the largest metropolitan areas of United Kingdom, encompassing ten boroughs which are home to more than 2.7 million inhabitants. The work of GMCA is steered by Mayor Andy Burman, leading on issues such as the economy, transport, police and fire services. Mr Burman was elected directly by the metropolitan population, for the first time, in 2017.
• Jinan is the capital of the Shandong province of the People’s Republic of China, headed by the mayor Sun Shutao. Cut by the Yellow River, it is an economic center, as well as a political, cultural, commercial, educational and transport hub for the entire province. Settled on an area of 8117 km², its population sums up nearly 7 million inhabitants. 
• Also from China, Nanjing is a city-subprovince and capital of the Jiangsu province. It is the second biggest city in the region just behind Shanghai, and it is also known as the "Capital of education, science, culture, art and tourism”. With a population of more than eight million of inhabitants, the current mayor of Nanjing is Lan Shaomin.
• The metropolitan city of Turin (Città metropolitan di Torino), located in the Piedmont region of Italy, was founded in 2015 and replaced the previous Turin Province administration. This metropolitan government is responsible for the coordination of 316 municipalities, which are home to more than two million people, and is led by the Sindaca metropolitana Chiara Appendino – the 23th to join the group of women who are at the top level of political representation among our members.
• Xiamen is the third of our new Chinese members. Located at the West coast of the East Chinese Sea, it holds a population of over 3.5 million. The city stands out for economic activities such as fishing and shipbuilding, as well as for its textile and telecommunications industries. The local government is led by the mayor Zhuang Jiahan.
• Yiwu is a sub prefecture of the People’s Republic of China under the administration of the city-prefecture of Jinhua, in the province of Zhejiang. The Yiwu Municipal People’s Government is led by Mayor Wang Jian. With a population of more than two million people, Yiwu is an important economic centre that is strongly committed to international trade and in recent years also to electronic commerce.

From the Secretariat General we warmly welcome these six major metropolises, hoping for a new cycle of work with many opportunities for collaboration and dissemination of their good practices around the world.