Cities Summit of the Americas to bring international leadership to Denver
A Greeley man is one of those behind a major convention coming to Denver this month, one which will bring elected leaders from many countries to Denver. The Cities Summit of the Americas will take place at the Colorado Convention Center at the end of April from the 26th through the 28th.
Mayors and other elected officials from Latin America and the Caribbean will travel to Denver for three days at the summit which was first announced by President Biden.
"A lot of those leading city officials are going to be coming to Denver to talk about the challenges they face in their communities as well as lessons learned, and how Denver has set a model in a lot of those cases," said Arie Pals, Summit Advisor for the U.S. Department of State.
Pals, who grew up in Greeley, is now one of the leads in making sure the summit can go off without incident.
"One of the things that excites me the most about the cities summit is the opportunity for cities to steal good ideas from one another," Pals said.
The Colorado Convention Center will be peppered with booths that help educate visitors on everything from improving transportation to more efficient trash disposal.
"We will have renewable energy, conventional energy, leaders talking about how do we sustainably transition to renewable energy," Pals said.
Most of the more than 3,000 guests expected to attend the event will be from others states and countries. More than 200 of those participants are mayors from other countries.
Pals said he was thrilled Denver was selected to host the event. Not only did he grow up in Greeley, but he also studied at CU in Boulder and DU in Denver.
He credited his many educators in Colorado for fueling his dream to work in diplomacy to solve the world's biggest challenges.
Even as the I-25 corridor and Denver have rapidly grown over recent years, Pals said Colorado is a prime representation of how cities can not only grow but also improve at the same time.
"Professionally and personally it has been a pleasure to work with the city, work with the state, and seek a lot of the best and brightest in Latin America and the Caribbean to come to Denver and see all the great things I have always seen here," Pals said.
