October 31 as World Cities Day
Traditionally, World Cities Day is widely celebrated on October 31 of each year on the basis of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/239 of 2014. The main reason for the creation of this day is aimed at drawing the attention of the international community to the issues of peace in the world.
According to the UN, more than half of the world's population now lives in cities, with this figure is expected to set to rise to 68 percent by 2050.
UN member states have adopted new urban development programs. As a result, it is expected to make significant progress in areas such as housing, environmental protection, climate change, infrastructure, basic services, food security, health, and education.
The motto of World Cities Day is "Better City, Better Life". The activities on this date are dedicated to the best practices of urban development and specific issues, addressed to urbanization. It is also worth and pleasant to mention that on this holiday, Ashgabat, the white marble capital of Independent and Permanently Neutral Turkmenistan was recognized as the pearl city of Central Asia.
On May 25, 2013, Ashgabat was entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the city with the highest concentration of white marble buildings. Starting from 2013 and in accordance with the Decree of honourable President of Turkmenistan, the 25th of May is annually widely celebrated as the Day of Ashgabat City.
Jahan SHUKUROVA,
the 1st year student of the
Faculty of International
Journalism of the
Institute of International Relations
of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan