The French National Authority of the Interreg NEXT Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme organized an information day just days before the launch of the second call for proposals. The event took place at the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional authority, and was attended both in person and online by programme officials as well as potential applicants from the programme area.
The event started with the opening speeches of Guillaume Huet, Director of Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation, Şebnem Sözer, Head of Department for Cross-border Cooperation at the Directorate for EU Affairs and Patricia Di Biase, National Contact Point representative of the French Interreg NEXT MED Programme, Georges Mercier and Bruno Pacheco, representatives of the Southern Region.During the event, Vincent Ernoux, representative of the Joint Secretariat of the Programme in Valencia, gave a presentation on the characteristics of the second call for proposals, to be announced in January 2025. Şebnem Sözer, Head of Department for Cross-border Cooperation at the Directorate for EU Affairs, shared with the participants the experience of the Directorate for EU Affairs in Cross-Border Cooperation Programmes since 2003 and the activities carried out under the programme in a presentation titled Regional Aspects and Key Players on the Theme of Green Transition for Türkiye
Sözer underlined that a total of 11 project applications with partners from Türkiye and France, successfully passed to the second stage between Türkiye and France. She also stated that majority of Turkish partners are from İzmir and Adana,She emphasized that the projects were evenly distributed across the various thematic objectives of the Programme, the average number of partners in the projects was five and the majority of them were public institutions. Sözer also announced that a joint online event with the French National Authority will be organized for the potential applicants from both countries in order to encourage partnership between the two countries.
The aim of the event was to enable potential applicants to share information about their institutions and to connect stakeholders. From Türkiye, Aegean Exporters’ Associations, Eastern Mediterranean Development Agency and Zafer Development Agency participated in the event online and had the opportunity to provide information about their organizations and their work in the region.
The information events in Türkiye for the second call for proposals will be held in February and March. The dates of the events will be announced in the coming days by the Directorate for EU Affairs, the National Authority of the Programme in Türkiye.