Cross-border networks and city-to-city diplomacy are essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, argue Max Bouchet and Henri-Paul Normandin, director of international relations for the city of Montreal.

Having worked for the Canadian Foreign Service for many years, diplomat Henri-Paul Normandin is an expert on city networking and reaffirms its value also for local communities. Throughout their conversation it becomes very clear that global issues often affect each and everyone of us and thus need to also be tackled at a very local level, hand in hand with partner cities and respective networks.

You can watch the video of this stimulating virtual discussion below and read the full article on the Brookings homepage here.

Max has also co-organised sessions on the topic of city diplomacy with his fellow GDL members at the GDL prE-Summit as well as the Bled Strategic Forum.