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The 2023 World Mayor Prize and Awards will be conferred on mayors who have demonstrated that by listening to and working closely with the citizens of their own communities as well as by forming partnerships and friendships with towns and cities at home and across borders, cities can succeed where nations struggle. Mayors shortlisted for the World Mayor Prize have been commended for their humanity, local leadership and their ability to bring people together. Ricardo Rio, Mayor of Braga, Portugal, was shortlisted for the 2023 World Mayor Prize and Awards Commendations for Ricardo Rio Mayor of Braga, Portugal Page 1 | Page 2 Commended by Maria A., Braga Ricardo Rio represented a breath of fresh air in municipal management after decades of crystallization. For having been born and raised in Braga and for having managed to fulfill his dream of being able to contribute to the improvement of the living conditions of the population by becoming its Mayor, managed to project a vision of the city in different areas of activity, only possible for those who have an unconditional love for their land (for the hard work involved) and have depth knowledge of the reality that want achiev The relationship with the population and the capacity for dialogue with local agents, and the capacity to collaborate with all the local stakeholders, the transparency, commitment, and openness to society that he lends to all municipal activity in a rare example of accountability, are transversal vectors that guide his actions. Since 2013, the region achieved an unprecedent economic dynamism, attracting investment, and in the creation of jobs was assumed, from the beginning, as one of his main priorities. Today Braga is an economic reference in the country and internationally, assuming itself as one of the great engines of the national economy, which is reflected in all sectors of activity. This action in the economic field was accompanied by developments in the areas of culture, sports, protection of heritage or the environment, social responses, or youth policies, guiding Braga to a reference international level in each of these areas. He engaged concrete and integrated youth policies based on good practices, essential for building the cities of the future. I can say that this is one of the areas in which Braga has clearly distinguished itself. It is not by chance that Braga was Ibero-American Youth Capital, was on the frontline in the creation of the European Youth Capitals Network, in the introduction of the Participatory Budget 'You Decide!, in reactivating the Municipal Youth Council, in holding the Young Creators and Young Talents Contests, or in implementing the pioneering 100% Youth City project. On other hand, Braga is in a phase of sharp growth in tourist activity and is at the forefront of adopting policies that favour the sustainable development of the territory and tourism is an area that is no exception to this rule. This is crucial for sectors such as restaurants, hotels, and commerce and the valorisation and preservation of heritage. It was also no coincidence that Braga was nominated Best European Destination in 2021. Braga is finally becoming a smart city, aiming for the best quality of life for its citizens, with the collaboration of Start-up Braga, an innovation hub that promotes companies that are dedicated to producing technologies related to cities or the policies implemented in mobility field, energy efficiency to economic sustainability, health, and so on. I could say much more, but I believe that the reasons already mentioned will justify, by themselves and without any doubt, an indisputable nomination for the best Mayor in the world. Commended by António B., Braga Mayor Ricardo Rio is a person with a full attention to the city and citizens. He promotes the participation and is always helping and supporting the needs of the city. In the pandemic times he was the first mayor in Portugal to take mesures to help people and to limitate the circulation. Many measures of Mayor Rio management are many times 'copied' by national government. Braga is having many investments to renew many places to put people and bicycles with more space and priority. Ricardo Rio is the mayor of Braga since 2013. Throughout his years as mayor of Braga, he has taken the lead on the global stage, is member of Executive Committee of Eurocities, and a Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth of OECD. He was one of the Portuguese representatives at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and now a member of the Portuguese delegation of the Committee of the Regions. In 2021, he won the tile World Mayor for Sustainability, awarded by the City Mayors Foundation. Commended by Ana C. V., Braga Ricardo Rio was elected Mayor of Braga in 2013 and, in these last ten years, the city gained a solid international reputation. The city has been very active at international level and developed several bilateral and multilateral activity that put Braga in the radar of several people and institutions. We can say that over the last few years, Braga has become a city without borders, open to the world and active on major international stages. From an economic point of view, this greater visibility materialized in the attraction of numerous international investments, generating the creation of thousands of jobs in recent years, for more qualified and better paid resources, which led to the city recognition by the Financial Times as one of the most forward-looking cities in terms of attracting investment (5th place in 2022 and 1st in 2023). In terms of tourism, Braga is one of the fastest growing cities in Portugal, more than trebling the number of visitors compared to 2013. In addition to other recognitions, it was considered the Best European Destination (2021) and the Second-Best European Destination (2019). From a demographic point of view, the city that grew the most in absolute value in Portugal in the last decade, in counter cycle with the Country, the North Region and the main cities, is today a cosmopolitan and intercultural city, bringing together more than 120 nationalities. For instance, the Brazilian community stands out, which today represents close to 8% of the population, but the geographical coverage is wide, as shown by the more than 60 nationalities of researchers at the INL, or the 15% of foreign students at the University of Minho, at different graduation levels. Respecting the principles of solidarity, under the leadership of Mayor Rio, Braga was the first Portuguese city to provide active support to Ukrainian citizens in the context of the current Russian aggression, while Braga's institutions (public and private) have been leading the way in supporting to refugees from countries like Syria or Afghanistan. With a view to putting Braga and the Minho region on the radar of international investment and also to make its full potential known, since 2014, the municipality has started a program of institutional visits to the diplomatic corps accredited in our country. Over these nine years, more than 120 Ambassadors have already passed through Braga. In addition, the city also organized dozens of activities with the Embassies based in Portugal, such as the National Day of Cyprus, the Ibero-American Meeting of Ambassadors in Portugal, the National Day of the Constitution of India or even, more recently, the celebrations of the 650 Years of the Treaty of Friendship between Portugal and the United Kingdom. One of the most relevant aspects of Mayor’s Rio internationalization strategy was the integration into major networks of cities that could catapult Braga and increase relations with other cities. In this way, since 2014 Braga has joined the most relevant city networks, such as Eurocities, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, UCCLA – Union of Portuguese-speaking Capital Cities or the Global Parliament of Mayors. The leadership of Mayor Rio is now recognized and he was elected Chair of the Global Parliament of Mayors. He also belongs to the Executive Committee of Eurocities since 2020 and, more recently, in 2023, he was invited to be a member of the Steering Committee of the OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth. In 2017, Braga was admitted to the UNESCO Creative Cities network in the field of Media Arts. In addition to the entire cultural program that has been developed by the Braga Media Arts throughout the city, this project has a relevant component of international cooperation with other cities and the exchange of experiences and cultural practices. Culminating the work within the network, the city won a competitive contest with the city of Dubai and will host the Annual Assembly of the UNESCO World Network of Creative Cities in 2024. In 2022, Braga was also admitted to the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities, the network of Learning Cities, which promotes and values work aimed at developing actions that encourage qualification and lifelong learning for all citizens. At the level of the Global Parliament of Mayors, Braga also leads the Talent Cities initiative, which aims to stimulate exchange between cities committed to policies for the generation and capture of talent on a global scale. At another level of international cooperation, Braga has been very active in URBACT in these last years and participated in several networks, with a wide range of topics and different departments of the city involved. It started with the “My Generation at Work” led by the Rotterdam and was followed by the Boostino - Boosting Social Innovation, led by Gdánsk. In the next call, Braga was actively participating in CityMobilNet led by Bielefeld. Braga also participated in the Urban Regeneration Mix Transfer Network led by Lódz. In the last Urbact call, Braga was a partner in two action plan networks: Tourism Friendly Cities led by Genoa and Roof – Ending homelessness, led by Ghent. In addition to these networks, Braga was one of the cities chosen by the URBACT Secretariat to participate in the Global Goals for Cities, led by Tallinn, concerning the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 agenda of United Nations. In the new program, Braga leads the new CAD URBACT network (on the night time economy) and participates in the CSG network (on the Sustainable Development Goals). Braga was also selected by the European Commisision to integrate the Intelligent Cities Challenge network. Braga has developed international cooperation projects in programs financed by the European Union: the Europe Aid program with the Argentine city of Villa Maria and the capital of Paraguay, Asunción; through the IURC- International Urban and Regional Cooperation with the Canadian city of St. Johns; and also, with ICP – International City Partnerships with the city of Taiwan, Taoyuan. Another good example of international cooperation under Mayor Rio leadership was the formal creation of the European Youth Capital Cities network, together with the cities of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Varna, Bulgaria and Amiens, France. Braga was a founding member of the Global StartupCities network, supported by the European Commissioner Marya Gabriela and organized in November 2022 the Unique Summit of the Initiative. Bilaterally, Braga has greatly strengthened its partnerships with other cities, namely through twinning agreements, while at the same time we have been initiating dozens of relationships with other cities, whether through city networks or bilateral projects. In 2013, Braga had only two active twinning, Clermont-Ferrand and Puteaux, both from France. Braga reinforced these two partnerships and had many cooperation projects with these two cities, namely through the Michelin Cities Network with Clermont-Ferrand or student exchange with Puteaux. But Braga increased the number of bilateral agreements of this kind and signed several twinning agreements with cities all over the world: Rio de Janeiro, Manaus and Niterói, in Brazil; Cluj-Napoca, from Romania; Ivano-Frankivsk, from Ukraine; Veliko-Tarnovo from Bulgaria; Cuenca, from Ecuador; Santa Fe, from Argentina; China's Shenyang; Yazd, from Iran; Santiago de Compostela, from Spain; and, most recently, Gaziantep from Türkiye. These agreements have been relevant to create synergies and partnership projects with these cities, whether at a cultural, economic or educational level. Another relevant component of international cooperation is relation with cities in Portuguese-speaking countries. More recently, the city Braga, together with the city of Mafra, donated to the Mozambican city of Quelimane two Fire Trucks to help to develop a new Firemen company in this African city. This is a sign of commitment to the African cities, following an international project with the city of Câmara Distrital of Agua Grande, on the Islands of Sao Tome and Principe, when in 2015 Braga helped to develop a public transportation system. In 2015, Braga signed a MoU with the Timorese city of Manatuto to help them to develop the structure of the municipality. In 2021, Braga organized a campaign to support the city of Bata in the Equatorial Guinea after the tragic explosions occurred. This year, the city is working together with the city of Gaziantep and other Turkish municipalities after the dreadful earthquake in Turkey. At a more regional level, one of the main objectives of Mayor Rio was a more direct involvement in the Eixo Atlântico, an important space for cross-border cooperation between Portugal and Spain. Over two terms, between 2015 and 2017 and between 2019 and 2021, Mayor Rio was the President of this network of 38 cities in northern Portugal and Galicia, executing important projects, such as the Capital of Culture of the Atlantic Axis in 2020, the Eixo Atlântico and Expocidades in 2019. Together with Galician cities, Braga had several cross-border cooperation projects, such as GEMCAT – Cross-border Quality Employment Generation and the “Destino Frontera” project, both funded by the EU. Over the last few years, in addition to being the European Youth Capital, Braga was the Ibero-American Youth Capital (2016); European City of Sport (2018); European Capital of the Social Economy (2021, in partnership with four other Portuguese cities; one of the 8 semi-finalists of the European Capital of Innovation Awards (2021); and was one of the 3 finalists for the first edition of the European Capital of Democracy, along with Brussels and the winner Barcelona. And Braga was also one of the four finalists for the European Capital of Culture (2027). The Mayor of Braga has been a member of the European Committee of the Regions since 2019. Here, in addition to being responsible for Opinions produced or in progress on the Sustainable Development Goals and the Social Economy, he was recently elected Vice-President of the SEDEC Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture. He is also a member of the Working Group for the Localization of the Green Deal, the ARLEM Commission – for cooperation between Europe and the Mediterranean countries and the Intergroup allusive to the future of the Automotive Industry. He is also the Ambassador for Portugal of the Committee of the Regions of the Covenant of Mayors. In 2021, The City Mayors Foundation awarded the Mayor of Braga the title of “World Mayor for Sustainability” for his work developed in favor of sustainability policies, after being included in the 10 finalists for the title of “World Mayor” that year. At the invitation of UCLG – United Cities and Global Governments, it participated in the International Migration Forum that took place at the United Nations in May 2022, also integrating the Delegation of Portugal to this relevant international forum. He was also a member of the Committee of the Regions Delegation to the HLPF on Sustainable Development, in NY, last July. 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