In a Closing Session Jean-Pierre Halkin from DG REGIO, European Commission and Ilir Melo, Director for the Region and Neighbouring Countries summed up the main highlights of the 7th EUSAIR Forum:
• Very active youth participation to be resulted in establishing EUSAIR Youth Council: “EUSAIR has an ambition to change the region, to change the economy, to transform the region in a way that cannot be reverted afterwards. And when we have such an ambition it is very important that young people who are going to live through this changes are on board, are expressing their views, so that in the end they will live in a society that they contributed to design.”- Jean-Pierre Halkin
• Tourism has a great role to play in the region and in a whole Europe, it is a backbone to the economy in some countries. COVID19 crisis therefore hit the region very hard and highlighted the need to accelerate the already planned Sustainable Tourism, which is a new form of tourism with lesser impact on the environment, lesser carbon footprint, but also bigger interaction with local environment.
• This Forum was organised in a region with a lot of enthusiasm for EU and a strong appetite for enlargement. Participation in the Strategy and Interreg programmes, which allows countries to practice shared management. The latter is one of the main toolbox of EU member states to implement key policies – with EU member states and European Commission on equal footing in order to reach the finish line of the next phase faster.
• Concern about climate change was raised as one of the main challenges of the region – EUSAIR will help its countries to take the right decision at the right level, shaping the new economy and policy on energy.
• EUSAIR is a living thing and needs to be constantly adapted to the new challenges. Therefore we are pleased to have launched the Revision of EUSAIR Action Plan and kindly invite you to contribute your viewpoints HERE.
• A good legacy of the Albanian Presidency was handed over to the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We count on them to continue with the processes started, to be inclusive, take on buttom-up approach and listen to young people. Presidency is not about the country that is chairing, but about the spirit that this country will bring to cooperation among all the involved countries and their stakeholders.
