European Dialogue on Future Interregional Co-operation

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European Dialogue on Future Interregional
Co-operation

• The main outcomes
• of the CENTURIO project within the partnership
  co-ordinated by
• Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County
• Strasbourg, 2nd October, 2006
• Anita Galó
• International Officer, project co-ordinator
• European Integration Office
• Self-Government of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County (H)

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JÁSZ-NAGYKUN-SZOLNOK COUNTY
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county
Hungary

• Territory 5,582 km2
• Population 410,000
• County seat Szolnok (80,000 inhabitants)
• Distance from Budapest 100 km
• No of settlements 78 (18 towns 59 villages)

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OUR CENTURIO PARTNERSHIP 1. - The way to this
Partnership

• Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County has an extended
  international relation (16 twinned areas)
• Previous joint programmes were implemented before
  launching the CENTURIO
• Common aims in development strategies

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OUR CENTURIO PARTNERSHIP 2.

• Eight of our partner regions take part - Asti
  (I),Brandenburg (D),Durham (UK),
  Harghita (RO),Häme (FIN), Pas-de-Calais (F),
  Somme (F), Teltow-Fläming (D)
• Sustainable quality tourism as thematic component
• Total budget for Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county
  92.170 euros.

• Specific objectives
• by achieving the project aims objectives
  we would like
• to contribute to the economic social
  development of our small regions and
  municipalities
• to improve the human resources of the
  self-governments (professional knowledge and
  foreign language skills)
• to learn best practices identify potential
  joint projects
• to enhance and develop the countys especially
  rich fruitful international relations

• Beneficiaries target groups
• Direct beneficiaries
• Civil servants of self-governments
• Target groups
• professionals working in the field of regional
  development, tourism, environment protection EU
  project management

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SPECIFIC PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• SPECIAL ATTENTION WAS PAID TO
• Creating a multinational environment for the
  trainees
• Public application process for recruiting
  trainees
• Tailor-made programmes flexibility in
  traineeships
• Evaluation, monitoring follow-up
  (e.g. Evaluation Seminar in Szolnok, 2006)
• Disseminating events activities
• (Dissemination Seminar, quiz in the local
  newspaper, etc.)

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MAIN OUTCOMES 1.

• Exchange activities by numbers
• Host traineeships 16 x 2 weeks
• Guest traineeships 25 x 2 weeks
• Dissemination events activities 88
• Identified new project ideas 45
• Identified best practises 25

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MAIN OUTCOMES 2.

• 2. Identification of new innovative regional
  development strategies
• 3. Elaborated tourism development projects
• 4. Extended co-operation among participating
  regions
• 5. Upgraded project management skills
• 6. Disseminated experiences
• 7. Improved foreign language skills

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DISSEMINATIONAS KEY ELEMENT OF THE PROJECT

• Main Events meetings
• Regular participation in Centurio
  conferences organised by the AER (3)
• Dissemination Conference with foreign partners in
  2005 organised by the Self-Government of
  Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County
• Evaluation Seminar for trainees, managers and
  employers in 2006 organised by the
  Self-Government of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County

• Tools methods
• Regional, local media
• Press conferences, discussions
• Workshops for presenting the experiences
• Web-sites
• Presentation of the results in training courses,
  etc

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PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

• Later launching than originally planned
• Lack of 3rd countries funding
• Late re-funding of the costs
• Administrational workload due to the different
  working methods of the national auditing
  authorities ( lack of information, late issue of
  certification of expenditures, etc.)

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THE FUTURE OF CENTURIO 1.
- First steps toward a new CENTURIO

• Modified conditions have been pre-announced by
  the AER project co-ordinators
• new specific topics were identified in accordance
  with the Lisbon and Guthenburg Strategies the
  new priorities of interregional co-operations
  defined by the EC
• less but more active Partnerships are demanded
• focus to be addressed not only on exchange of
  experiences but also on added value

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THE FUTURE OF CENTURIO 2.
- Why to launch a new CENTURIO?

• In accordance with the EU regulation
  referring to European Territorial Co-operation
  AER priorities for 2007 and 2012 the new project
  should
• promote the modernisation and internationalisation
  of regional governance
• promote innovation, growth and employment (RTD,
  innovation capacitites, entrepreneurship)
• reinforce the effectiveness of regional policy
• ensure sustainable development and combating
  environmental degradation

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THE FUTURE OF CENTURIO 3.- Why does
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county support the new
project?

• EU regulation and AER draft priorities are in
  accordance with the objectives stated in the
  county/regional development documents with
  special respect to the development of competitive
  economy
• Common priorities have been identified in the
  development strategies of foreign partners with
  special respect to the strenghtening of
  entrepreneurship protection of natural heritage
• Identification implementation of new concrete
  projects extended networking are needed

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THE FUTURE OF CENTURIO 4.
- What should we change?What can we develop?

• We should
• strenghten the networking activities (provide
  better use of Bridge Activites with allocated
  financial resources)
• focus on concrete project proposals and concrete
  products as project outcomes
• pay special attention to making use of total
  partnerhsip besides sub-pertnerships
• need a stable project co-ordination team for the
  participating regions provided by the AER

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Thank you for your attention!
Contact Dr.Ildikó Ürmössy, project manager
- urmossy_at_jnszm.hu Anita Galo, project
co-ordinator - galo.anita_at_jnszm.hu Web
http//www.jnszm.hu