Buenos Aires, June 30th 2011 - The FAM (Federation of Argentinian Municipalities) has invited all its members to join Mayors for Peace before the upcoming Hiroshima commemoration of August 6th. FAM was instrumental to receive the support of Mr. Hector Timerman, the Minister of Foreign Affairs from Argentina, who noted in a letter on March 9th to the Mayor of Hiroshima that Argentina will participate in a Special Disarmament Conference as proposed by Mayors for Peace.
Julio Pereyra, president of FAM declared: “Since I was a child I learned that a wheelbarrow serves men better than a gun, and I continue to think this way. Buidling a wheelbarrow or a shovel will add much more than a rifle or a cannon ”.
Julio Pereyra is also president of the Latin American Federation of Cities, Municipalities and Associations of Local Governments (FLACMA), an important partnership at international level, also involved with Mayors for Peace.
The solidarity with FAM and FLACMA is welcomed by Mayors for Peace, and the organization is hopeful that others will develop similar initiatives the upcoming weeks as the eyes of the world will turn once again to Hiroshima on August 6th. This will be an especially poignant moment for the people of Japan as they suffer once again from nuclear radiation with the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
In preparation for the upcoming Hiroshima commemoration Mr. Juan Matteo, Executive Director for FAM, declared: ''I appreciate the trust given to us to work with Mayors for Peace. The last time we were in Argentina during the week of Municipalism awakened the feeling in all community leaders and as a result many cities joined the struggle for World Peace ".
He added: "We will continue working together to achieve the objectives of Mayors for Peace. We will continue to emphasize and work on this issue and we hope more cities, municipalities and mayors will give echo to this issue which affects everyone. "
FAM was the first association of local governments to sign an agreement of co-operation with Mayors for Peace last year during the visit of Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba to Buenos Aires. FAM has 600 members in Argentina.
During the events last year in Buenos Aires, FAM organized a signing ceremony where 24 Argentinian Mayors handed their registration-form personally to the Mayor of Hiroshima. Also Mayors from other Latin American countries joined.
IC Argentina, a private consulting firm for local governments throughout Latin America based in Buenos Aires, will work closely with FAM and FLACMA to invite Latin American Mayors to express their solidarity before the upcoming commemoration on August 6th.
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