On 17 May, the Vice President of the Euroregion Aldrin Dalipi and the Secretary General Francesco Cocco took part in the joint meeting of EUSAIR Friends and the CPMR Adriatic-Ionian Task Force at the European Parliament in Brussels. The meeting was jointly organised by the CPMR and the MEP Ivan Jakovcic.

The EUSAIR Friends is an informal group of the European Parliament promoted by Mr. Jakovcic and composed by seventeen MEPs from different political groups and Member States with the purpose to follow the progress of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region. The meeting was moderated by Mr. Jakovcic. The MEPs, representatives of Regions and other AI stakeholders shared their opinions and comments on the state of play of EUSAIR and its future.

Aldrin Dalipi, Chairman of the Council of Tirana Region and Vice President of the Euroregion highlighted the importance of the meeting of EUSAIR Friends and the CPMR Adriatic-Ionian Task Force at the European Parliament in Brussels. He thanked CPMR for this opportunity. In his remarks, Mr. Dalipi discussed related to the needed encouragement of interactivity between the cities of the Adriatic-Ionian Euroregion through the blue highway or air and sea ways. This connectivity and people to people contacts, will bring much more development and integration between the people of our region. Also, economy, culture and education are fields to benefit the most from this enhanced connectivity.

He stressed the importance of the collaboration of all regions in better protecting the seas from the pollution that comes from the plastic and other wastes. This could be achieved through a coordinated effort between the cities and countries sharing the same seas, as a great responsibility to the nature and the health of our people.

Another important topic according to Mr. Dalipi is the collaboration in the field of tourism. As Mediterranean in the attracting area of millions of tourists from all over the world, it has many potentials in developing our region. Therefore, a coordinated plan and collaboration would be very necessary for highlighting the great potentials of our region according to Mr. Dalipi.

The moderator Ivan Jakovcic stressed the importance of unity and cooperation to achieve EUSAIR goals and to build prosperity in the macro-region. He underlined the need of having financial resources from European Commission to support the implementation of the strategy.

As a good example of financial support provided by DG REGIO, Eleni Marianou, the Secretary General of the CPMR, presented the new initiative AI-NURECC an ongoing EU project implemented by CPRM in cooperation with the Adriatic Ionian Euroregion and other key networks of the area. These organisations have decided to join their efforts aiming at supporting the EUSAIR implementation, ensuring deep and broad territorial coverage, at regional and local level. The initiative will contribute to the EUSAIR political goals giving support to its Action Plan.

The event was also attended by other regional politicians such as Greta Bardeli (Regional Council of Shkodër), Emanuela Bora (Marche Region) and Ms. Joanna Mouliou, Policy Officer at DG Regional and Urban Policy.

Agenda: Joint-Meeting-_-Friends-of-Eusairs-CPMR-Adriatic-Ionian-Task-Force