The face-to-face meetings of the working groups, which is one of the most important annual activities of the B40 Balkan Cities Network (B40), was hosted by the Municipality of Tirana on 21 – 22 May 2024 with the participation of the members of the ‘Local Climate Action’ and ‘Smart Cities and Digital Transformation’ working groups. The working group meetings, attended by 35 participants from 10 cities, started with a technical visit to the iconic Tirana Pyramid. Subsequently, the first day was completed after the welcome dinner hosted by the Tirana Municipality on the evening of 21st May 2024.

The final day of the programme started with the panel titled Delivering Climate Actions with Impact ‘Using Technology to Mitigate Climate Change’, which was organised by ICLEI and Tirana Municipality and inaugurated by Mr. Erion Veliaj, the President of the B40 Network and Mayor of Tirana. In this panel, Tirana, Istanbul, and Pristina respectively shared their best practices in the context of carbon mitigation and adaptation to climate change with the participants. Following the panel, separate workshops of the two working groups were held.

In the face-to-face meeting of the Smart Cities and Digital Transformation Working Group, the B40 Best Practices Portal, which was put forward by the Municipality of Tirana as the working group project of 2024, was discussed. In the later part of the face-to-face meeting, a detailed presentation was made on the projects of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality IT Department namely ‘Istanbul is Yours’, ‘Digital Twin Application’, and ‘Suspended Invoice’.

Participants from B40 member cities as well as ICLEI took part in the face-to-face meeting of the Local Climate Action Working Group. In the meeting, presentations were made by the ICLEI team in the fields of Information Communication Technologies, Sustainable Energy, Sustainable Mobility, Water and Sewerage. Subsequently, the city of Pristina shared the steps they plan to take in these areas and the best practices. Participants were divided into two groups in the later part of the workshop. The first group focused on Sustainable Mobility and Sustainable Energy, while the other group discussed ICT and Water and Sewerage.