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Catalan presidency 2010-2011

On June 15, 2010, the Catalan government took over the presidency of the Four Motors for Europe from Lombardy. Catalonia assumes the presidency in a context where it is necessary to cope with the problems aroused by the world economic crisis. For this reason, the main priority is to activate cooperation in economic matters in order to influence the process of recovery of the member regions and of Europe as a whole.

Throughout this year the Four Motors for Europe will also continue to boost their economic, scientific and technologic leadership in a world which is more and more interconnected, to build a Europe which is closer to its citizens and to strengthen the role of sub-state governments through the exchange of experiences and good practices, as well as cooperation in matters of common interest.

In addition, in order to continue with actions to foster international projection, the association is willing to strengthen the role of lobby of the association within the European Union and promote internationalisation through the Institutional and Economic Mission outside Europe, such as the one in Brazil on February 2010 or the upcoming mission in Egypt in 2011.

Through new activities and innovative projects, Catalonia is also working to consolidate the work achieved by all working groups, which promote cooperation in matters such as environment, research and science, education, youth and sports, and economy. Besides, they encourage cooperation in new fields such as labour, culture or information society.

Main goals of the Catalan presidency:

> To boost the economy and reinforce the role of regions

Economy and the reinforcement of the role decentralized governments play on it are two main lines of interest within the Catalan presidency. Taking advantage of the added-value of the association, which is made up of the four most dynamic regions in Europe, and the increasing role of sub-state actors, the Catalan presidency is willing to boost the economy through actions based on interchange and cooperation in areas concerning productive economy —addressed mainly to enterprises and productive sectors—. In addition, it works for the promotion of dialogue on innovation and internationalisation of enterprises to tackle the challenges emerged from the economic context and to set the network in the vanguard of interregional cooperation.

In order to achieve all this, the following measures will be essential:
The promotion of internationalisation through the Institutional and Economic Mission outside Europe and cooperation between regional economic agencies for international development.
The promotion of innovation through the support to clusters dialogue, the promotion of dialogue on innovation between the territories and the development of projects through external funding.
To improve policies trough benchmarking and exchange of good practices to convert the Four Motors for Europe into an instrument to reflect on the future of economic development and/or establish recommendations for the EU.

> Promoting key and innovative fields of cooperation

In order to give support to the work done by all working groups, the Catalan presidency is willing to promote activities in a diverse range of fields which already exist, but also in new ones such as employment or information society.

Environment: participate in the Seminar on air quality and the Seminar on benchmarking on water: Workshop on the regulatory frame and financial flow of water cycles services, as well as the Conference of the European regions about climate change. At an international level, enhancing cooperation with the Four Motors of Mercosur in matters concerning environment and participating in the Technical Seminar and business meetings on eco technologies in Argentina are also relevant objectives.
Culture: promote joint European projects, as well as the exchange of experiences on cultural industries and audiovisual, and re-launch the culture working group.
Education: promote the mobility of students and foster the learning of languages of the regions through language courses.
Information society: create a working group about information society to promote the interchange on the social use of ICT and the participation in the 2010 forum “Les Interconnectés”.
Immigration policies: exchange best practices on integration policies.
Employment: share experiences in the framework of labour relations and participation in the Meeting of regional governments and social agents, as well as in the International congress of female directors.
Gender policies: exchange good practices on the role of women in rural development.

>International projection of the association

In the framework of the international projection of the association, Catalonia continues with the work done until now and will make a great effort to position the network at a European and international level. In particular, it will work on three lines of action in order to promote the presence of the Four Motors both in Europe and abroad.
To activate relations with the Four Motors of Mercosur through continuity of joint projects and co-ordination of actions and exchange of good practices, especially on economic and environmental matters.
To foster the presence of the Four Motors for Europe as a lobby vis-à-vis the EU through events such as the meeting with MEP’s of the member regions and associates of the Four Motors in Brussels, the joint activity in the framework of the Shanghai World Expo 2010, or by linking the work of the association to the EU 2020 Strategy.

To highlight the role of lobby of the association activities and debates on the promotion of regional cooperation at a European and international level through activities such as the seminar on Regional governments: emerging actors in a multipolar world. The experience of the Four Motors for Europe.

> To find out more about the previous Presidencies of the Four Motors for Europe, click here.