FOR EDITORIAL PLANNING

/ European Week of Regions and Cities
Brussels
9 - 12 October 2006

For the fourth consecutive year, the biggest annual event on EU regional policy, the 2006 OPEN DAYS European Week of Regions and Cities will take place in Brussels between 9 and 12 October. This year, the focus will be on private and public investments in European regions and cities aiming at generating growth and jobs, under the headline "Investing in Europe's Regions and Cities: Public and Private Partner for Growth and Jobs."

Organised by the European Commission’s Regional Policy Directorate-General (DG REGIO) and the Committee of Regions (CoR), the purpose of this conference is to bring together public and private stakeholders, to get them involved in and inform them about practical funding possibilities from the EU. At the same time, this event provides an opportunity to learn from other regional strategies, past experiences and future programming objectives with the aim of providing the most appropriate possible mix between public and private funding for each region.

The importance of this occasion is also highlighted by the presence of Commissioner Danuta Hübner for Regional Policy, and Committee of the Regions’ President Michel Delebarre, the co-organisers of this conference, as well as the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso and other Commissioners such as Figel, Kallas, Potocnik, Reding, Spidla and Wallström – who are confirmed or to be confirmed.

After the agreement of the EU budget by the EU 25 Member States for the period 2007-2013, EUR 308 billion, (35.7% of the EU budget, the largest amount ever) from cohesion policy instruments, will be available to support regional growth agendas and to create more and better jobs. The Growth and Jobs Strategy ("Lisbon Strategy") will be at the heart of this greatest investment ever made by the EU, and more than 80% of the investment will go to the Union's poorest regions. It is expected that growth in these regions will increase by up to 10% and that more that 2.5 million new jobs will be created as a result.

2006 OPEN DAYS’ partners include more than 130 regions and cities from all over Europe, the European Parliament’s Committee for Regional Development, European financial institutions, European business organisations, social partner and civil society organisations, amongst others. The programme is organised under five thematic areas: enterprise investments; innovation; sustainable development; public-private partnerships; management of Structural Funds.

For this event, more than 3.000 participants are expected, who will have the possibility to attend more than 100 sessions, seminars and workshops given by 500 speakers coming from 30 different countries. In parallel, the “European Week of Regions and Cities” will be brought home through 70 decentralised local events happening in different European regions and open to the wider public, which will focus on cohesion policy’s new design and future funding possibilities.

In addition to seminars, and Opening and Closing Sessions of the event, there will be an “Investors Café”, a special communication platform for public and private investors where a selection of 38 workshops are organised by businesses, most of them of the ICT industry, NGOs, public banks, and DG REGIO with other DGs. There will also be an exhibition and a café area where all OPEN DAYS participants and partners will be able to meet and network.

For the full 2006 OPEN DAYS programme, please consult:

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/conferences/od2006/index.cfm

For more information, feel free to contact the OPEN DAYS CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT:
Tel: +32 (0)2 737 95 65
Fax: +32 (0)2 737 95 67

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