The Eurocity of Guadiana, made up of the municipalities of Ayamonte, Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António, participated this Wednesday in the general meeting of the Iberian Network of Transfrontier Entities (RIET), which took place in Cáceres, Spain.
At the meeting, the Eurocity was represented by Luís Romão, vice-president of the VRSA City Council, the entity that currently assumes the presidency of the organization, and by Alberto Fernández alcalde de Ayamonte.
According to the Chamber of VRSA, "in this session, the topics under discussion are centered on the challenges for the border territories, namely on issues related to their infrastructure."
The agenda also included “policies related to demography and social innovation”, with the debate being attended by Ignácio Sanchez Amor, Secretary of State for Territorial Policy, from Spain.
"The meeting is a continuation of the previous RIET general assembly, held in November, in Fundão, where the funding lines to which RIET members can apply were presented and the cooperation funds after 2020 were presented", adds the Vila municipality -real.
For Luís Romão, director of the Eurocity of Guadiana, «the Eurocity can and should be an entity that thinks and works in a strategic way for the sustainable development of the territory and constitutes an excellent opportunity for, together, to respond to a set of difficulties derived from the peripheral situation of their territories. By acting together, we gain scale and enhance our goals».
This was the second RIET meeting in which the Eurocity has participated since it was recognized as a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC).
Recognition of the Eurocity of the Guadiana as an EGTC makes cross-border and transnational cooperation easier, giving it, for example, the possibility to apply directly to European funds and to manage them.
Through this status, granted by the Secretary of State for Development and Cohesion, the Eurocity of Guadiana can also be entrusted with the execution of programs co-financed by the European Union or other projects of cross-border cooperation.
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