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Ghana is participating in the UN’s Housing and Sustainable Development (Habitat III) conference, Quito, Ecuador.

The objective of Habitat Conference, the third conference in line with the bi-decennial cycle,1976, 1996 and 2016, is to invigorate and secure renewed global political commitment to sustainable urbanisation to focus on the implementation of a New Urban Agenda, building on the Habitat Agenda of Istanbul in 1996.

It is also to assess the accomplishments to date, address poverty, identify and address new and emerging urban challenges for the establishment of the New Urban Agenda.

On the theme: “New Urban Agenda,” the Habitat III is first major global conference since the 2030 Agenda entered into force in January 2016, and will offer an opportunity to discuss the opportunities that urbanisation brings to the implementation and achievement of the SDGs.

The Habitat III Conference has, as its mission, the adoption of a New Urban Agenda an action-oriented document which would set global standards of achievement in sustainable urban development.

It is also creating an opportunity for rethinking the way we build, manage, and live in cities through drawing together cooperation with committed partners, relevant stakeholders, and urban actors at all levels of government as well as the private sector.

The Habitat III serves as a platform to determine the ‘New Urban Agenda’.

Ghana's Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has mounted an exhibition centre at the forum to showcase a number of projects and programmes initiated by the Ministry to promote urban development in Ghana.

Mr Charles K. Dondieu, Chief Director of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, who led the Ghanaian delegation, said the forum would offer Ghana an opportunity to share with the international community Ghana's urban development agenda.

It is also offering Ghana a platform to learn from other jurisdictions their success stories, compare notes and develop a common agenda, Mr Dondieu told the GNA.