The North Sea Annual Conference 2006 was held in Aviemore, Scotland, on 14-16 June. More than 400 participants took part in the action packed programme and the feedback has been very positive.
At the conference important issues regarding the current and new Objective 3 North Sea Programme were discussed.
Plenary Session: Gothenburg & Lisbon
The conference was opened on Wednesday 14th June with a plenary session, which focused on the relevance of the Lisbon and Gothenburg Agendas for the North Sea Region. Viktoria Varga Lencses, the programme?s desk officer from DG Regio, gave the latest news and information from the European Commission on the preparations for the new Objective 3 Territorial programmes. Paul McAleavey from the European Environment Agency based in Copenhagen, gave valuable insights for the new North Sea Programme into the Gothenburg Agenda. The presentations are available in the Events section.
Public Consultation
The draft Operational Programme for the new programme period was presented at the conference. On Thursday 15th June, Harry Knottley and Mark Overman, members of the Programme Preparation Group, kicked off the Public Consultation period for the new Objective 3 North Sea Programme. The consultation will run until 11 August of this year, after which the input will be analysed and used for further improvement to the document. If you wish to read more about the Public Consultation and download the Operational Programme click here.
Thematic Seminars
On Thursday morning the 3 draft priorities for the new programme were presented: Unlocking the Transnational Potential of Sustainable Communities, Managing Our Environment Wisely and Challenging Accessibility. It was announced that the Innovation theme would be integrated in all 3 priorities. Thematic seminars on each of the draft priorities offered the opportunity for discussion and feedback.
Progress Report
A Progress Report with the outcomes of North Sea Programme projects was presented at this year?s event. The report shows that progress towards achieving the programme objectives is good and that target indicators are exceeded. Click here to download the document.
Exhibition
A major exhibition of 40 North Sea Programme projects was held at the conference centre displaying the achievements projects have made. This was the largest exhibition to date and it received a great deal of attention and appreciation.
Partner Search
This year?s conference included the first partner search event for the new programme period. A substantial number of project ideas have been submitted, resulting in 76 scheduled partner search meetings. The atmosphere was very positive.
Give us your opinion
If you attended the event in Aviemore, please give us your opinion by completing the Evaluation Form and returning it to Elena Aspe by 30 June 2006.
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