Brussels, 11/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has decided to award €21.7 million to the best 16 projects submitted under the third call of the Marco Polo Programme. The aim of this programme is to contribute to the transfer of road freight to other more environmentally friendly forms of transport. Among the 16 projects, selected from 63 proposals, there are 12 modal shift actions, 2 catalyst actions and 2 common learning actions. These projects will shift 10.3 billion tonnes/kilometre of freight, the yearly equivalent of 134,000 lorries driving from Rotterdam to Rome and will trigger private investment of about €350 million (without infrastructure), says a press release. These actions are well spread geographically, with large, small, central and peripheral countries benefiting. A Marco Polo Information Conference will be held in Nantes, France, on 30 November and 1st December 2006. At this conference, the results of the third selection round will be presented to all interested companies and all parties concerned. The event will also help potential applicants prepare for the first call under the new Marco Polo II Programme scheduled for publication in the Official Journal at the beginning
of 2007. (dt)