The Barcelona-based UfM is an intergovernmental organisation which brings together all countries of the European Union and 16 countries of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean.
The Ministerial Conference on Sustainable Urban Development will be the third such meeting after those in Strasbourg in 2011 and Cairo in 2017.
The first two conferences resulted in the adoption of a plan to reduce inequality among the rich and the poor in Mediterranean cities, increase youth employment opportunities, facilitate access to city services and housing, increase access to online services as well as the cleaning of cities and the seabed. The states plan to implement this plan by 2040 through cross-border cooperation.
The conference in Zagreb on 4 May will acknowledge the progress achieved since the Cairo conference and the ministers are expected to intensify efforts in the implementation of the UfM Strategic Urban Development Action Plan 2040.
Residents in cities on the Mediterranean also face population growth, and the area is the second one most exposed to global warming after the Arctic.
The UfM estimates that by 2030 about 80% of the population in Mediterranean countries will be concentrated on 10% of their territory, mainly on the coasts.