Porto Alegre, 1/23/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Mayors and officials of 230 cities from 26 countries attending the III Forum of Authorities for Social Inclusion have called on governments of the world to incorporate democracy in their policies and international relations. Participatory democracy set the tone at the forum where the final document announced the formation of the "United Cities and Local Government" agency, which will involve the merger of the World Federation of United Cities and the International Union of Local Authorities. The new agency will be inaugurated in Paris in May, 2004.

According to the mayor of Porto Alegre, João Verle, the most important decision at the forum was to maintain networking at the city level in favor of social inclusion. (AB)