Facility Point Plus – Building up cooperation in the Adriatic-Ionian Region
The EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) involves eight countries, i.e. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. The countries work closely together in the fields of Blue Growth, transport, energy, environment and sustainable tourism to support the future development of the region. The strategy is characterised by four pillars, each of which is supervised or coordinated by representatives from two countries, an EU Member State and a non-member country. Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are responsible for coordinating the ‘’Environmental Quality’’ pillar.
The implementation of the strategy is supported by the project ‘’Additional Support to the Governance of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region’’, in short Facility Point Plus, which contains two main types of activities. The first one supports macro-regional (cross-pillar) projects, while the second one strengthens the capacities of the EUSAIR key implementers and other stakeholders, in particular the EUSAIR Governing Board and members of Thematic Steering Groups for the four interdependent pillars.
A capacity building workshop bringing together national coordinators for the EUSAIR Governing Board was held on 5 and 6 June in Tolmin, Slovenia. Participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Italy and Slovenia discussed common challenges and ways to improve collaboration between the EUSAIR countries. This was the second workshop in a series of capacity building events organised to develop and deliver a Capacity Building Action Plan to support institutional capacity development in the region.
Slovenia plays a visible role in the strategy’s implementation. Besides managing the ‘’Facility Point Plus’’ project, it also acts as Lead Partner in the ‘’EUSAIR Facility Point’’ strategic project. The goal of strategic project is to facilitate the implementation of the EUSAIR by providing operational support to the governance structures of the EUSAIR.
More information: EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region