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CEI Cooperation Fund: 4th Meeting of EGTC Approval Authorities in Budapest

Representatives of the Approval Authorities of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) and European Ministries for Economic Development, as well as of the European Commission, EU Committee of the Regions, European Investment Bank and Association of European Border Regions, were amongst the participants of the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Approval Authorities of the EGTC, held in Budapest on 16 and 17 April 2015.

The event, co-financed by the CEI Cooperation Fund, was organised by the Hungarian Government. The topic of this year’s conference was “Sharing the Experiences of the EGTC Approval Authorities – Economic Development from the Perspective of the EU and the CEI”.
The meeting was opened by the Hungarian State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Levente Magyar, who emphasised the role of EGTCs as an effective instrument of territorial cooperation in Europe in several fields, particularly when the needs and wellbeing of cross-border local population, are priority objectives.

Special Advisor to CEI Secretary General, Giorgio Rosso Cicogna, welcomed the participants on behalf of the CEI, underlining the importance of EGTCs to ensure stable, long-term cooperation between cross-border areas. He emphasised that “as a follow-up of the Hungarian CEI Presidency, this conference is meant to reinforce the bridge between EU countries and non-EU CEI countries by capitalizing the EGTCs for boosting local socioeconomic development”.

Draganco Apostolovski, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia, delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the Macedonian CEI Presidency 2015.

In this context, the main goal of the conference was creating an interface between the CEI objectives, the European Territorial Cooperation Programmes and the EU Macro-regional Strategies on the one hand, and the local stakeholders, such as the EGTCs and SMEs, on the other, with a focus on the possibilities for business development based on real local needs in the framework of the 2014-2020 EU programming period.

Agenda with speakers' presentations: http://egtc.kormany.hu/4th-egtc-conference


 

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