Tunis, (UNA-OIC) – The Arab Housing Conference is held every two years in the host country of the meetings of Arab Ministers of Housing and Construction, in partnership with the League of Arab States.
This Arab conference, the first to bring together Arab housing ministers, presents the latest developments in the housing sector in Arab countries through the organization of dialogue sessions between housing and reconstruction ministers and organizations and bodies concerned with the housing sector.
Members of the Executive Bureau of the Council of Ministers of Housing and Construction decided at their 74th meeting held at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States in Cairo (Egypt) in October 2010 to organize an annual conference periodically to deal with the housing sector.
Five editions of this congress were held from 2010 to 2018.
During the first three editions, the conference was hosted by Syria (2012), Jordan (2014), and Saudi Arabia (2016).
Tunisia will host this 6th edition (December 22 and 23, 2020) of the Arab Housing Conference in the presence of government parties responsible for housing and the urban sector, as well as experts and investors specializing in the field.
Agencies specialized in housing and reconstruction sector, municipal councils, and civil society organizations will also participate in the event.
The 6th session’s theme focuses on policies and strategies for the development of uncontrolled areas and limiting their expansion.
The 5th session was held in Bahrain on December 11 and 12, 2018, under the theme: role of the public sector in social housing.
During that session, emphasis was placed on the importance of establishing an implementation plan for the Arab Strategy for Housing and Urban Development and its adoption at the next summit.
Bahrain was also able to launch the website of the Council of Arab Ministers of Housing and Reconstruction, which allows sharing data and information related to housing between countries, without waiting for the holding of such official events.
The 4th Arab Housing Conference was hosted by Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 20 to 22 December 2016, under the theme “Implementing Public-Private Partnership for Housing Sector Development.”
As for the 3rd Arab Housing Conference, it was held in Amman, Jordan on December 17 and 18, 2014, under the theme: “Residential cities with complementary services … housing solutions”.
The session also discussed the impact of the information revolution, green building, urban planning and urban design standards, the development of the service system in cities and the development of housing policies in Arab cities in accordance with the economic and social reality of each country.
It also looked at the development of the concept of neighborhood and residential neighborhood and its relationship with the city at the geographical, strategic, and social levels, as well as the impact of social and economic characteristics in determining housing patterns and urban growth.
The city of Baghdad, Iraq hosted the 2nd session in December 2012 under the theme “Policies and Strategies for Providing Decent Housing in Arab Countries,” to identify ways to provide housing at the lowest cost and strengthen coordination between countries.
The first session of the Arab Housing Conference was hosted by Cairo, Egypt, in 2010.
During this session, emphasis was placed on sustainable construction in the Arab region, particularly in the desert environment.
The first edition of this event also tackled ways to streamline water and energy consumption and to use natural resources to properly preserve strategic reserves.
It also discussed spreading the culture of waste recycling and its reuse, in addition to the use of renewable energies to develop the Arab desert areas while preserving the identity and specificity of this environment.