Euro-Mediterranean Development: The Puglia Region - A Leading Candidate

22/06/2006 - The Puglia Region has gained great credibility at inter-regional, national and European meetings, and now is the leading candidate among those regions dealing with European development.

In the scope of the “Programme of Support to Regional Cooperation” which is promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the region has recently become the sole head of the intervention “Dialogue and Culture” in the Mediterranean and Balkan areas, as well as the leading region at the table dedicated to “Economic Development” for the Balkan countries and the coordinating region for the Italian regions for project interventions in Egypt as foreseen in the programme guide-lines (e.g. “Socio-Economic Development”, “Material and Immaterial Interconnections”, “Environment and Sustainable Development”, “Health and Welfare” and finally “Dialogue and Culture”). The initiative which was launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aims at establishing solid partnerships between the Italian regions and the South Mediterranean and South-Easter European countries.

This regional cooperation established with the rest of the Italian regions has strongly enhanced the Mediterranean sector of the Puglia region in terms of the work carried out in order to implement two important initiatives. The first one concerns a bilateral strategic project with Albania in the ambit of IPA – Adriatic Multilateral Programme, while the second aims at a special project of bilateral cooperation with Egypt in the ambit of ENPI – Mediterranean Multilateral Programme.

The region has already carried out a mission to Cairo in February 2006 and met representatives and operators of the Italian cooperation in Egypt. This occasion allowed us to share the experience that Italian regions underwent in the scope of the “Programme of Support to Regional Cooperation” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the promotion of partnerships with the South Mediterranean countries, especially Maghreb and Mashrek.
The mission has brought us useful elements to ensure efficient organization and consistency to the project initiatives promoted by the Puglia Region in partnership with other Italian regions. Moreover, a general appreciation of the steps so far undertaken and a convergence of the proposed sectoral priorities have emerged from the meeting with the Egyptian representatives. Among the main themes, were rural development, transport, environment, culture and socio-health protection.