U7 Mayors Summits
Mayors Summit 2025
29 April - Kobe, Japan
Local leaders from G7 countries gathered today in Kobe for the fourth Urban7 (U7) Mayors' Summit, alongside the Kobe City Global Conference marking the 30th anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. The Summit reinforced the critical role of cities and regions in shaping G7 discussions and tackling global challenges with local impact.
Mayors underscored the importance of rules-based international engagement, strong partnerships between levels of governments, and the crucial role of cities in building these partnerships, supporting peace and democracy, and delivering aid and expertise to war-ravaged communities such as in UkraineTheir discussions will culminate in a joint declaration which will be shared with G7 leaders later this year in cooperation with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), chairing the U7 during the G7 presidency of Canada.
Mayors Summit 2023
2 March Tokyo, Japan, and online
G7 mayors gathered in Tokyo and online for the third annual U7 Mayors Summit. The city leaders discussed their vision for the role of cities in the G7 process as Japan takes on the G7 presidency. They presented their Mayors Declaration 2023, which was drafted collaboratively by the national city networks of the G7 members and the U7 Secretariat. In the following days, the Declaration was handed over to Mr. Kenji Yamada, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Japan.
The U7 Mayors Summit 2023 was hosted by the Japan Designated City Mayors’ Association (JDCMA), with support from the U7 Secretariat (ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and the Global Parliament of Mayors).
Mayors Gather in Tokyo for Third U7 Mayors Summit (press release)
Previous events
Progress towards an equitable world – this was the goal of the German G7 Presidency in 2022. The cities of the G7 – together with their global partners – are the driving forces working for equitable, sustainable and democratic development. The Urban7 Group Alliance, consisting of the Association of German Cities, the Global Parliament of Mayors, and ICLEI, hosted the U7 Mayors Summit with the theme “Embracing the Urban World: Cities as Drivers of Change for Peace, Democracy and Sustainability.” The event took place online on 3 May 2022 and was open to all interested participants.
The U7 Mayors Summit 2022 brought together high-level representatives of the German G7 Presidency with representatives of national city associations and international city networks as well as mayors from the G7 and the Global South.
The U7 Mayors Summit 2022 became the most significant event of cities in the framework of the German G7 Presidency. Mayors from the G7 and the Global South formulated their expectations for the G7 Presidency and at the same time made it clear that progress for a just world could only be realised in and with strong cities. At the U7 Mayors Summit, the U7 Mayors Declaration was adopted and handed over to the G7 Presidency.
U7 Secretariat 2025:
The U7 is receiving financial support from the BMWSB.