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Who we are?

The idea and proposal to establish an organization to forge and develop effective communication and cooperation between Asian cities and urban officials, within the framework of the ideal of convergence and Asian cooperation, was raised for the first time in Tehran in 2007 simultaneously with the meeting of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA), by Tehran Municipality and was welcomed. This issue was reflected and emphasized in Paragraph 63 of the statement of the said meeting as follows:
“Encouraging local governments, city councils and mayors of APA member cities to find solutions to exchange information and experiences in the field of their activities for supporting the APA goals and welcoming the Tehran Mayor’s proposal to host a meeting in 2008 with the participation of mayors of the capitals of the APA member states to discuss the idea of public participation in line with promoting further convergence in Asia.”

Accordingly, the first meeting of the Asian mayors was held in November 2008 at the invitation of Dr. Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Mayor of Tehran, with the participation of more than 80 mayors and managers of Asian cities and several invited domestic and international officials and experts. Thus, with the decision and approval of the Mayors and Asian city officials participating in the Tehran meeting, the Asian Mayors Forum (AMF) was established and started working. Since its inception, the forum has so far been influential in the day-to-day management of local affairs and cities throughout Asia, and while paving the way for the development of opportunities for the exchange of information and experiences between mayors and city managers, successful meetings and conferences, including five sessions of the General Assembly and six sessions of the Executive Board have been held simultaneously with scientific and specialized meetings in various dimensions of urban management in the cities of Tehran 2008, Istanbul 2011, Bangkok 2012, Haiku 2014 and Gaziantep 2018. These sessions have been accompanied by the active participation of officials, managers, and experts in the field of urban management, professors, and prominent figures in the field of the university both inside and outside Iran as well as representatives of international organizations.

Since the establishment of the Forum in 2008, mayors of Tehran, Istanbul, Bangkok, Haiku, and Gaziantep have chaired the Forum periodically. Meanwhile, Mr. Mohammad Khodadadi was the Secretary General of the Forum from 2008 to 2017, the second Secretary General of Forum was Mr. Goshtasb Mozaffari from 2018 to 2021. In 2022, Mr. Hamid Reza Gholamzadeh was elected as the new Secretary General by a unanimous vote of the members of the Executive Board and approval of the General Assembly.