News

Today, the AII Secretary General, Amb. Pigliapoco, attended the Summit of the Central European Initiative in Sarajevo.

The conference hosted by the Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Denis Zvidic, was focused on the migration and refugee crisis and on strengthening infrastructural connectivity in the area.

In his intervention, Amb. Pigliapoco outlined the role of the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative concerning the domains chosen by the CEI Chairmanship underlying also that they are key priority also for the "EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region".

Concluding he informed about plans of stricter cooperation between AII and CEI that will possibly be achieved through the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding in the near future.

• Eusair

On 12 and 13 September, the AII Permanent Secretariat paid the official annual visit to the incoming AII Chairmanship in Athens.

The Secretary General met – among the others – the Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs Mr. Nikos Xydakis and the Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Dimitris Mardas.

The annual visit of the Permanent Secretariat to the Presidency was meant to meet the people in charge of the Presidency, both dealing with AII and EUSAIR, to plan the activities of the newly established Chairmanship during the year and to share ideas on how to integrate, as much as possible, the intergovernmental activities within the AII with the EUSAIR.

For the first time in May 2016, Ministers of Foreign Affairs met in a joint "Adriatic and Ionian Council / EUSAIR Ministerial Meeting" making clear that the two exercises work in parallel, one for the other and with the same objective.

The newly established Hellenic Chairmanship will take into account such crucial developments in planning its yearly activities.

• Eusair
• CSO

The forth EUSAIR Governing Board took place in Athens on October 7.

Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Xydakis welcomed delegates informing that the Forum concluding the Hellenic EUSAIR co-Chairmanship and AII Chairmanship will be held in May on the Ionian Coast.

After presenting its priorities, the Hellenic Co-Chairmanship opened the discussion on the EUSAIR Facility Point which is close to finalize its preparatory activities before it becomes fully operational.

Other items discussed were:

• The outcome of the technical meeting of Pillar Coordinators held on the previous day;
• The dialogue between key implementers and ESIF/IPA Programme Authorities;
• Follow up of Dubrovnik Declaration concerning possible actions on the refugee and migration crisis;
• State of play and next steps of ADRION Program.

The AII CSO meeting took place back to back with the EUSAIR meetings on 6 October. Its main focus was the new role of the AII as advocate of civil society organizations for their full involvement into the EUSAIR Governance through the overhauled AII Round Tables and the EUSAIR Stakeholders Platform as soon as it becomes functional.

Under mandate by the Senior Officials, the Secretary General reported their encouragement and interest to have the Stakeholders Platform set up and working as soon as possible so that the principle of subsidiarity is finally fully applied for the EUSAIR.

After the successful experience of “E-Capital Culture Adriatic Start Up School” last year,

Fondazione Marche, Chamber of Commerce of Ancona, Università Politecnica delle Marche, City

of Ancona and Istao present the Call for ideas for a second edition of the same programme for the creation of Start Up in the cultural field in the Adriatic – Ionian Macro Region.

The competition takes its cue from ECAPITAL – Business Plan Competition, which for 15 years has

promoted the creation of innovative companies in the Marche region (Italy), involving students in

business plan projects.

Ecapital Culture - Adriatic Start Up School is aimed at young people from AII Countries, motivated create a business able to enhance the cultural heritage of the area.

The initiative offers to participants an educational experience aimed at developing the project of

their own business idea in the field of culture, converting it into an enterprise.

The first edition carried out in 2015, involved 25 young participants coming from the AI Macro

Region who developed their business idea through the implementation of their own business plan.

The call for ideas is addressed to 20 young people from the 8 countries of the Adriatic-Ionian

Macro Region (excluding people coming from the Marche region – Italy, who will be object of a

dedicated Call).

The call is open from 15 July to 15 September 2015. All relevant documents and information about admission requirements, participation and project phases are enclosed in the Call for Ideas.

More information are available on the dedicated website http://startupschool.ecapital.it/