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Paris, Jul.14.─ French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed President Donald Trump to Paris Thursday, saying he was prepared to set aside differences over Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord in order to work together on other issues.

President Emmanuel Macron: "I disagree with the way the Paris Agreement and its importance is being interpreted by the U.S. We talked about this disagreement, as we should amongst leaders, before and after the decision taken by President Trump. Should this get in the way of the discussions on all other subjects? Definitely not, under no circumstances."

The election of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) to help deepen the country’s democratic governance has been an issue waiting to happen.   

It was one of the topical issues in the build-up to the 2016 general election, with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) being the main proponents.

Accra, July 7.─ The issue of whether municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) should be elected or not has taken centre stage in the country’s political discourse for some time now, with stakeholders expressing mixed views on the issue.

Reiterating, once again, his commitment to the election of MMDCEs when he addressed an orientation programme for the 199 approved MMDCEs by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development at the Institute of Local Government Studies at Ogbojo in Accra, President Akufo-Addo noted: “I belong in the group that has always advocated the direct, popular election of chief executives. It is now a manifesto commitment of the ruling party, the NPP, and so you must be aware that it is going to be fulfilled.”

Barcelona chosen to hold the IOPD presidency to organise the 18th Conference in 2018.

Ada Colau is the new IOPD president.   

Montreal, July 3 (DP.net).─ More than 400 people from 30 countries took part in the 17th IOPD Conference in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from 16 to 19 June. Over the course of these four days, 80 speakers spoke and debated in various plenary sessions, workshops and other events on the theme of “Participation without exclusion”. 

Montreal is putting together documents on the content of the conference but you can already see videos (at the foot of THIS PAGE) of some of the sessions, as well as videos containing interviews with some of the speakers. You can also see more photographs of the conference at THIS LINK. 

A consensual Final Declaration was adopted on the issue of "Participation without Exclusion", supporting "the commitments made by the international community through various international agendas, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the new program for cities and human establishments, to promote the implementation of institutional, political, legal and financial mechanisms to establish inclusive platforms allowing effective participation by everyone in decision-making".  

Cairo, July 4.─ The dialogue continues between the Vatican and the Al-Azhar Authority of Sunnite Islam of Cairo, Egypt, stresses a statement of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, this Tuesday, July 4, 2017.

“Following the previous Agreement of May 28, 1998, and in the light of addresses of Pope Francis and of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Mohamed al-Tayyeb during the historic peace conference at Cairo last April 28, the common engagement is express to pursue the shared reflections, geared to promoting a fruitful and effective inter-religious dialogue, centered in particular on the promotion of peace and the building of a more just world,” specifies the press release.

In fact, a meeting took place yesterday, Monday, July 3, 2017, at the Apostolic Nunciature in Egypt, between the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) and Al-Azhar’s Center for Dialogue (ACD).