Brussels, 26/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - Provence-Cotes d'Azur region (PACA) in France will be hosting the first 'International Convention for a Regional and Local Approach to Development' in Marseilles on 5 - 7 March 2007, an initiative of the Conference of the Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR), PACA and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Backed by the French foreign ministry, the convention should provide better understanding of how to effectively make the most of the know-how and resources of the regions in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly in terms of reducing poverty and inequality and contributing more generally to the development of territories, explains a joint press release issued by the organisations backing the convention. The convention will also see the launch of specific projects, making use of the UNDP's ART GOLD programmes (support to territorial networks, local governance and development) involving European, Latin American, African and Mediterranean regions.
The opening meeting of the convention at 9: 30 on Monday 5 March will be addressed by the president of PACA, Michel Vauzelle, the president of CPMR (also the president of Tuscany), Claudio Martini, deputy director general of the United Nations, Bruce Jenks, and the director of DG External Relations at the European Commission, Eneko Landaburu. The French president, Jacques Chirac, may also attend. Various workshops will be organised looking at themes like managing water, food safety, the structure of healthcare and social services, developing sustainable energy, nutrition and health issues.
CPMR spokesperson Enrico Mayrhofer said the convention was the first practical activity after the global meeting of the regions in the Azores in July 2006 (see EUROPE 9241), where participants agreed for the UNDP to coordinate all development aid issues, which in the past had been done on a very ad hoc basis by the regions. He gave examples - Tuscany is investing in building a hospital in Brazil, and the region of Brittany (France) is investing in a school in a different country. He said aid used to be rather chaotic, and what the regions wanted was coordination among regions on the pattern of coordination among countries. He said the regions dreamed of creating a genuine global organisation of the regions.