On Friday 20 November 2015, the Intermediary Summit of Executives of the Greater Region took place in Marche-en-Famenne, commemorating the 20th anniversary of its existence.
The first meeting took place in Mondorf-les-Bains on 20 September 1995. From January 2015, Wallonia acts as chair of the Summit for a period of two years, in collaboration with the German-speaking community and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. During these two years, Wallonia decided to develop guidelines along the themes of innovation and creativity.
The work agenda is structured around three strategic areas, these being: learning throughout life, supporting enterprises and the endogenous and sustainable development of territories. Around 46 actions and initiatives undertaken in 2015 and 2016 are contained within this, affecting all areas of education, training, employment, business support, mobility, tourism, rurality, agriculture and forestry, nature and sustainable development, culture, sport and citizenship.
During the Summit, participants reviewed their cooperation and addressed future prospects. Luxembourg's perspective, represented by Minister for the Greater Region Corinne Cahen, recalled the establishmnet of a House of the Greater Region on 17 June 2015 in Esch/Alzette, a place of work, meetings, exchange and communication for cross border entitities and a point of contact for citizens, companies and associations. Minister Cahen emphasised the importance of supporting such actions as well as the first school meeting held on 2 June 2015 at the Parc merveilleux de Bettembourg, the purpose of which was to learn a neighbour's language from an early age.
The Minister additionally felt that the visibility of the Greater Region needed to be enhanced through clear objectives and concrete answers. She welcomed the implementation of the framework agreement on cross-border vocational training allowing young people to take part of their professional training in another zone within the Greater Region and thus obtain dual recognition of their diploma and subsequently increase their chances on the job market.
Partners encouraged the creation of a first community project around a unifying theme representing the silver economy, finding that it met the needs of an aging society in key sectors such as health, digital, spatial geolocation, construction, mobility, mechanics and more. The Luxembourg Minister described the strategy as a real societal issue.
The Summit also discussed the current refugee crisis in Europe. In her other capacity as Luxembourg's Minister for Integration, Corinne Cahen underlined the need for an exchange of information and best practices which could lead to avenues of cooperation in the Greater Region.
In the context of the 20th anniversary of the Greater Region, a free event was held in Wallonia on Thursday 19 November, featuring jugglers, a diabolo show, a DJ, musicians and magic.
Photo by MFAMIGR
