The Global Parliament Of Mayors

We believe that national governments working alone are just not equipped to cope with the world the way it is. It's moved on from what it was 50 years ago. Arriving in Bristol today was amazing. A beautiful city.

The pastoral setting in front of City Hall and the opportunity to quickly engage with citizens, young and old, who love this city. Coming together to have an opportunity to talk about the things that are affecting our city. Our issues are global, and the solutions to them will be global solutions. So we're here to convene almost 100 mayors to sit here and talk about ways in which we can lead.

We're focusing on migration, we're focusing on public health, and we're focusing on urban security. People don't live their lives in the nation. They live their lives in their communities. So when you have leaders come together, such as the mayors, it really creates a bridge for us to cross the gulf that has been created by world leaders who have abdicated their responsibilities.

If we fail on an issue like climate change, for example, we know we'll be flood-prone. We will see more migrants coming to the north because there'll be millions of climate-driven migrants in the future. We'll be more prone to urban instability and sickness. So on any of the themes we talked about today, we just cannot afford to fail.

The stakes are too high, and mayors will be on the front end of that. We want to raise the profile of the city, and this is somewhat like a pinnacle, really, when we get all the world's publicity all focused on Bristol. McDonald provides advice on multiple issues that affect people's lives, and the GPM has given us the opportunity to showcase that diversity of skills for a powerful global audience. It's been absolutely fantastic to showcase the city of Bristol, and it's been fantastic to discuss the opportunities that exist both in the city for outward investment and inward investment into the city.

We're being seen and heard by the right people to be able to make this great technology a great part of big city landscapes. This is a really great opportunity to showcase a women-in-leadership event. And so this has become a really critical component part of how we move forward as the city of Bristol within a global stage. What was very important about this summit is that we actually did something.

We hammered out proposals, we voted on the proposals, and then there was a document presented at the very end of the summit. So when we go home, we're taking home ideas and commitments that we've made to ideas to implement them at home. Having the mayors here, I think, gives the businesses in Bristol a great opportunity to show the real innovation, the real quality of our organisations. What tends to happen when people come to Bristol, they always want to come back.

A lot of them said to me that they will come back. I think also we've learnt a lot as a city council about dealing with problems in the world, and I think that can only be a benefit. Well, the event's been fantastic. But one of the highlights for me is just sitting in the chamber, listening to mayors introduce themselves from the whole range of countries, from Australia, United States, Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and listening to all those countries represented in Bristol City Hall has just been phenomenal.

And just to share in that spirit of collaboration and desire to make the world a better place on behalf of the constituent cities, but also the whole world as well, has really been uplifting. We're a worldwide effort. Dare I say, revolution. And I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Bristol for putting such a marvellous event together.