The Monitoring Committee, the decision-making mechanism of the Interreg IPA Bulgaria-Turkey Program, for which the Directorate for EU Affairs is the National Authority, held its fourth meeting for the 2021-2027 period in Edirne.
The opening speeches of the meeting were delivered by Serdar Öztürk, Deputy Director General for Financial Cooperation and Project Implementation of the Directorate for EU Affairs, on behalf of the National Authority, Desislava Georgieva, Director General for Regional Cooperation Management of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, on behalf of the Managing Authority, and Margarita Grancharska-De-Muynck, Program Manager, Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policies, Directorate General for Enlargement, European Commission. The meeting, co-chaired by Öztürk and Georgieva, was also attended by key stakeholders from the region, including public institutions, local authorities and civil society organizations.
In the meeting projects selected for the call under the Regional Strategy prepared for Program's priority of Europe Closer to Citizens and the call for Environmentally Friendly Cross-Border Cooperation for SMEs were peresented to the Committee. In addition, the evaluation process and results of the Governance Project to increase the capacity and know-how of the Strategy Board established under the Regional Strategy were examined. Moreover, the application package and evaluation rules of the strategic project on combating forest fires within the scope of climate change adaptation measures, which is being prepared under the same priority, were discussed.
7 More Projects Accepted for Implementation for 2021-2027
The meeting also approved seven more projects from the reserve list for the period. Under the Europe Closer to Citizens Priority, two projects will focus on investments in tourism and cultural heritage of the cross-border region, while five more projects under the call for Environmentally Friendly SMEs will improve energy efficiency and transition to a circular economy. These seven projects will be supported with a total of €3.5 million.