Welcome of the Mayor Letizia Moratti

I am very glad to welcome all participants to the Integrating Cities II Conference, an important international meeting that will take place in Milan on 5 and 6 November 2007.
The event is a further step of the path successfully launched with the first Forum held in Rotterdam last year, in October. The Conference aims at gathering political responsibles, officials and practitioners from a large number of European cities in order to debate and to share their knowledge, experiences and best practices.
Milan is proud to host this second Conference, aware of the responsibility assumed, also by taking into account of its firm commitment to work for achieving an actual social integration.
The initiative was launched by the Commissioner Franco Frattini in 2006 and is coordinated with the network of the European Cities “Eurocities”.
The Commission intends to increase the role of the urban and local institutions on the issue of integration. Milan shares this objective and supports the model proposed by Eurocities, which, since 1986, has been working to establish links among the 130 biggest European cities. Eurocities promotes the exchange of ideas and experiences that allows the cities officials to enrich their mutual knowledge in a fully collaborative spirit and in a European dimension. This brings to the analysis of common problems and to the identification of innovative and positive solution for all.
The European cities network allows the success of an active role in crucial domains for citizens’ development and evolution such as family, education, housing, improving social contexts. Milan appreciates this framework and it is strongly committed in implementing these principles in actual policy measures.
Milan is a laboratory of experiences and it was a front runner for the other Italian cities and for the European policies explicitly inspired by the model proposed by our City.
I am particularly referring to Social Policies based on the Pact for Legality and inclusion which was introduced in favour of the foreign communities.
Milan offers to non-Italian citizens social services indispensable for achieving a positive integration, such as inclusion and territorial services, support for those suffering for disadvantage due to adaptation to the new context and language, access to labour market, social and housing services, legal and medical assistance.
Moreover our City has to provide “knowledge” and “tools” for living together.
For this reason, we aim at ensuring services for families, youngsters and students. For this reason we also believe in supporting self-employment and job insertion granting safety and dignity for the future, to allow any foreign citizen feel a full Milanese citizen.
We will be glad to offer to the international partners our experiences. We are likewise interested in listening others’ experiences.
I wish a fruitful work to everybody.

Letizia Moratti
Mayor of Milan