Brussels, 04/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - "Cultural policies in towns" is the theme of the conference organised on 8 November in Thessaloniki and on 9 November in Veria by the Stage and Mosaic II projects of the Council of Europe, in collaboration with the Greek Minister for Culture. The themes covered will be: - exploiting and optimising the cultural resources of towns; - determining and understanding the cultural potential of towns; - managing and implementing a cultural strategy for towns. The aim is to establish strategies for sustainable cultural development in towns, including tourism and cultural itineraries, and creating a network of towns of cultural importance in South East Europe and the southern Caucasus, with a view to promoting regional and international cooperation in the culture area. The Greek Minister for Culture, Evangelos Venizelos, is to open the work in the presence of Vera Boltho, Head of the Council of Europe's service for cultural actions and policies, and Vassili Papgeorgopoulos, Mayor of Thessaloniki.
We recall that the Mosaic project aims to develop cooperation exchange between the countries of South Eastern Europe and to assist them in the transition of their cultural policies. The Stage project supports transition in arts and culture in the greater Europe.