Neighbourhood Cooperation at the heart of European Week of Regions and Cities

Cooperation with the EU’s Neighbourhood partners is at the heart of the 8th European Week of Regions and Cities being held in Brussels next week, according to a press release from EuropeAid.
 
The ‘Open Days’ from 4-7 October will see EU cooperation in the Neighbourhood and Eastern Partnership countries presented in three workshops (on Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 6 October 2010) dedicated to specific programmes and initiatives.

‘Strengthening the role of local authorities in the European Neighbourhood region’ will be the first workshop. It will focus on ways in which local authorities in the European Neighbourhood region are supported through EU assistance to enhance their role in sustainable development.
 
The major cooperation programme related to this support is CIUDAD (Cooperation In Urban Development And Dialogue - a ?14 million funded programme). There is also an upcoming ?5 million project regarding the participation of cities from the European Neighbourhood region to the EU Initiative on the Covenant of Mayors, under which cities commit themselves to reduce CO2 emission by 20% by 2020.
 
“In our daily lives, we realise that more and more the motto ‘think globally, act locally’ becomes a reality for all of us,” commented Marcus Cornaro, Director at EuropeAid Cooperation Office.
 
The second workshop ‘Cross-border cooperation on Europe’s external borders: the Neighbourhood and the Eastern Partnership’ will examine the challenges and opportunities faced by regions wishing to cooperate across Europe’s external borders.
Representatives of the Commission will present the state of play of both initiatives – ENPI Cross border cooperation and the Eastern Partnership – while Partner countries will highlight their experience and expectations from both schemes.
 
A third workshop dedicated to ‘Cross border infrastructures’ will focus on infrastructure investments from strategic design to selection, implementation and maintenance (roads, border crossing points, bridges etc). These projects are financed within the framework of ENPI, IPA and ERDF cross border cooperation programmes for the benefit of Partner countries, Candidate countries and Member states. (ENPI Info Centre)
 
Press release
 
Open Days webpage
 
CIUDAD – fiche and news and website
 
Covenant of Mayors – website

Source: ENPI Info Centre