Yokohama City is making a contribution to world peace by attracting international organizations that are attempting to tackle problems such as poverty, famine, and environmental destruction and supporting their activities.
In 1987, Yokohama was officially designated a "Peace Messenger City" by the United Nations. Also, Yokohama is serving as the chair city of the Asia-Pacific Regional Network of Local Authorities for Management of Human Settlements (CITYNET), which pursues an agenda that emphasizes urban development and attempts to solve diverse urban problems and pave the way to the conservation and improvement of the global environment through technological cooperation including the dispatch of expert staff and the acceptance of interns between member cities.