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Migration Trends 2006-2008
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Regional and local dimension of the "Eastern Partnership"

4 June 2009

The Committee of the Regions of the European Union will held Forum on Eastern Partnership in Brussels on 16-17 June 2009.

Partnerships at regional and local level are crucial for Europe's relationship with its Eastern neighbours.

The European Commission's recent proposal and the Decision of the Council from March 2009 for an "Eastern Partnership" envisages a strengthened co-operation with the neighbouring countries to the East, based on the principles of market economy, sustainable development and good governance. Moreover, the Eastern Partnership aims at promoting mobility through visa facilitation and readmission agreements.

The Committee of the Regions believes that the Eastern Partnership should become a project for dialogue between citizens and a platform for co-operation between the EU and its neighbours, bringing together local and regional authorities in a form of practical approach based on solidarity and on the citizens' needs.

The Committee of the Region's Eastern Partnership forum will provide an opportunity to share experiences and encourage local projects among members of the Eastern Partnership countries, businesses and non governmental organisations, associations and EU institutions as well as national, regional and local authorities. The event will focus on two central themes:

  • Territorial cohesion and economic development
  • Capacity building and good governance.

For this event, we would like to invite different actors, approaching the institutional and political level, but also representatives of the civil society, practitioners involved in projects and researchers.

The forum on Eastern Partnership will be structured as follows:

  • A political approach in the morning with the participation of the CoR president, Mr Luc Van den Brande, a representative of the European Commission – DG RELEX, Mr Istvan Sertö-Radics, Chairman of the CoR RELEX Commission
  • Two workshops in the afternoon – one of them focused on territorial cohesion and economic development and a second one on capacity building and good governance.