White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel Will Join Business, Civic, Academic and Foundation Leaders at 2010 Richard J. Daley Global Cities Forum

CHICAGO, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The sixth annual Richard J. Daley Global Cities Forum (Daley Forum), held by Chicago Sister Cities International and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), in conjunction with the World Organization of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), announced today that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will join the Forum as a panelist during the Forum's public day, Tuesday, April 27.

Emanuel will join leaders of more than 100 cities and local governments, who will assemble in Chicago, along with prominent business, civic, academic and foundation leaders for discussions on key urban issues.

Entitled "New Partnerships for a New Economy: Driving Innovation in Cities," this year's Daley Forum will foster a dialogue on the role of public-private partnerships as a key tool to help municipal leaders continue to deliver innovative programs and services in these challenging economic times.

Other event participants will include:

• Motorola co-CEO and CEO of Motorola Solutions Greg Brown
• Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
• Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe
• Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard
• Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. President and Chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees Christopher Kennedy
• Amman Mayor Omar Maani
• Johannesburg Mayor Amos Masondo
• Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter
• Washington Post Writer's Group Columnist Neal Peirce
• The Boeing Company Vice President of Global Corporate Citizenship Anne Eleanor Roosevelt
• World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Katherine Sierra
• Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas
• PBS NewsHour Senior Correspondent Judy Woodruff

Panels will focus on the following themes:

• "Transforming Government to Promote Innovation" - Panelists will discuss the latest cross-sector collaborations that are helping local governments to successfully overcome obstacles and transform government operations to better meet 21st century needs and goals.
• "Generating New Value from Local Assets" - Panelists will highlight examples of cross-sector partnerships that have capitalized or built on a city's own unique natural resources or assets, and in turn, attracted and generated new local economic value and growth.
• "Rebooting the Economy with a Premium on Talent" - Panelists will discuss innovative partnerships involving cities and other sectors that are helping to enhance human capital and create good jobs.

The Daley Forum kicks off with high-level leaders gathering for private discussions Monday, April 26 followed by a public symposium Tuesday, April 27. Concurrently, UCLG will hold its Executive Bureau Meeting, covering issues such as the creation of a task-force for the local governance reconstruction in Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake, identifying the key components of innovative strategic planning for the cities of the future, and evaluating outcomes of the global report on the state of local finances around the planet. Chaired by Mayor Bertrand Delanoe of Paris, UCLG is the largest local government organization in the world. The organization represents more than half the world's population and is in 136 UN Member States across all world regions.

The public symposium will run from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $25. Students from UIC and all other schools, plus UIC faculty, will be admitted free of charge. Visit http://www.uic.edu/orgs/daleyforum/forum/ to register. All attendees must register in advance.

History of the Richard J. Daley Global Cities Forum

The Forum is named for current Mayor Richard M. Daley's late father, Richard J. Daley, who served as mayor of Chicago from 1955 until his death in 1976. Richard J. Daley was a major figure in American national politics throughout his career. At the center of interest for the Forum are the issues that concerned him during his life and that concern government leaders, urban policy-makers and scholars to this day. For more information and to view videos from previous forums, please visit www.uic.edu/orgs/daleyforum

SOURCE Richard J. Daley Global Cities Forum