17/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - Launch of URBACT III programme. On Monday 16 March, the European Commission launched the know-how and best practices exchange programme for European cities in the area of urban development. The programme's head office is in Paris at the Commissariat général à l'égalité des territoires and involves EU member states, as well as Norway and Switzerland. It has a budget of €96.3 million, €74.4 million of which comes from the ERDF. Corina Cretu, the European commissioner for regional development, explained: “The urban dimension is at the heart of cohesion policy”. She added that “the work carried out within the framework of URBACT involves knowledge sharing and strengthening capacities in the cities, which will subsequently become more important than ever”. URBACT is organising an important festival in Riga on 6-8 May. For further information: http://www.urbact.eu (JC)