The 1st ASEAN City Mayors Forum (The First ACMF) was held in JW Marriott Hotel, Surabaya, Indonesia, on 24-25 October 2011. The Meeting was chaired by Chairman of Board of Indonesian City Municipalities (APEKSI), Honorable Mr. Eddy Santana Putra, and attended by 70 ASEAN city mayors, namely from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand.

The First ACMF was initiated by the Association of the Indonesian City Municipalities (APEKSI), and convened in cooperation with Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic Indonesia, East Java Provincial Government, Surabaya City Government, and Asian Development Bank.  This Forum was aimed to contribute in the promotion of people-to-people contact and ASEAN awareness towards the establishment of ASEAN Community 2015 as well as to strengthen the network of civil society in the region.

The First ACMF adopted Surabaya Communiqué and agreed upon the establishment of the ASEAN City Mayors Forum as an effort to promote and enhance regional cooperation among ASEAN cities and with cities from ASEAN dialogue partners. The Forum also discussed some priority areas of cooperation to be incorporated, such as Public Administration and Governance, Environment and Sustainable Development, Public Service, Regional Network, Human Resource Development, Public Private Partnership, Gender Mainstreaming, and Education.

The First ACMF also agreed to take necessary measures towards the formalization the Forum through consultation and coordination with related institutions including the ASEAN Secretariat. (Source: Ditjen KS ASEAN)