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Akbar Novruz

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Welcome to AzerNEWS coverage from the outskirts of WUF13 held in the Baku Olympic Stadium.

The 13th meeting of the World Urban Forum ended today in Baku with the adoption of the Baku Call to Action, which is an action plan that is set to inform housing and sustainable urban development policies at different levels, including local, national, and international, and will be directly fed into the UN Secretary-General's midterm report for 2026 on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

The concluding day began with roundtable meetings focused on the involvement of indigenous populations and women in urban development. It was then followed by a press release meeting, where the outcomes of the World Urban Forum were summed up, as well as the closing ceremony and handing over of the WUF13 flag to the city hosting the WUF14.

Over five days, WUF13 delivered several firsts: the inaugural Leaders' Summit bringing heads of state into dedicated political dialogue on housing for the first time in WUF history; the first-ever WUF NGO Forum, uniting civil society from 116 countries; and the launch of the World Cities Report 2026, which documented that nearly 3 billion people worldwide are affected by inadequate housing conditions, unaffordable costs or lack of access to basic services.

The torch now passes to Mexico City for WUF14!

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