Brussels, 02/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - During a Ministerial meeting in Salonika on 28 June, Denmark took over from Greece at the Presidency of the inter-governmental network on research, Eureka, which brings together 34 European countries. Denmark will be in charge for the next twelve months. Assessing the progress achieved over the last year by the Hellenic Chairmanship, Dimitrios Deniozos, highlighted the fact that discussions with the European Commission, "have already identified some key areas where we can work more intensively together" to improve: the co-ordination for combining financial support under the Framework Programme with national support under EUREKA; common use of instruments and networks, particularly for the benefit of SMEs. The Danish Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Helge Sander, mentioned three priorities: positioning of EUREKA within the European Research Area; streamlining EUREKA's organisation and decision-making; continuing efforts on improving the quality of products. Two new members were welcomed to the EUREKA network by the Ministers - the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Cyprus. The organisation also invited Morocco to join as an Associate member. 713 research projects, 171 of which are new, have received EUR 410 million from the EUREKA programme.