Mudavadi Lands in Baku Ahead of Global Housing Summit

Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi has arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan, leading an advance Kenyan delegation for the 13th edition of the World Urban Forum (WUF13).

The global conference, which runs between May 17 and May 22, operates under the theme, “Housing the World: Safe and Resilient Cities and Communities,” drawing together global heads of state, policymakers, and infrastructure stakeholders.

Delegates at the event are seeking to position affordable housing as a primary driver of inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urban development while addressing structural gaps in global housing delivery.

Speaking upon his arrival in the Azerbaijani capital, Dr. Mudavadi indicated that international discussions must pivot from theoretical debate toward physical implementation, noting that strategic urban planning must take priority.

Kenya and the wider African continent are urbanizing at an unprecedented pace, and the time to move from conversation to execution is now, Dr. Mudavadi stated.

The Prime Cabinet Secretary noted that current urban growth projections require immediate, practical intervention to avoid catastrophic strain on municipal frameworks.

Data indicates that Africa's urban population is on track to double, rising from 700 million to 1.4 billion residents by the year 2050.

Within a single generation, regional cities will absorb hundreds of millions of new residents, requiring aggressive expansions in housing stock and infrastructure.

Unmanaged urban growth risks worsening existing housing deficits, overstretching utilities, increasing air pollution, and magnifying climate-related vulnerabilities across emerging urban centers.

Dr. Mudavadi observed that these infrastructural challenges are currently compounded by constrained fiscal spaces, weak local governance structures, and highly limited access to long-term financing.

The Baku infrastructure summit follows shortly after Nairobi hosted the Second Africa Urban Forum (AUF2), where regional ministers and urban planners convened to deliberate on technological integration and climate resilience.

Organizers of WUF13, led by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), have structured the six-day event to address critical themes affecting modern infrastructure deployment.

The forum will be organized around six primary dialogues:

* The Global Housing Crisis: What is the Plan?

* Transforming Informal Settlements and Slums

* Housing for Urban Recovery

* The Climate-Housing Nexus

* The Economic Power of Housing

* A New Deal for Housing Finance

The event has drawn extensive international interest, with more than 32,000 global participants from 180 countries arriving at the conference grounds at the Baku Olympic Stadium.

The massive venue spans 53 hectares, including a 3.5-hectare Urban Expo Zone where 41 countries have set up national pavilions to showcase smart cities and sustainable construction technologies.

A ministerial-level meeting dedicated to the New Urban Agenda will open the proceedings on the first day, establishing a framework for global urban recovery.

The Kenyan delegation intends to utilize the international platform to study successful global financing models that can be applied back home to mitigate local infrastructure deficits.

The final outcomes of the Baku deliberations will be compiled into the Baku Call to Action, a policy document intended to guide the United Nations Secretary-General's subsequent reports on global housing compliance.