1st Conference on Smart Cooperation (La Coruña – Spain - 25 and 26 June 2012)

Published the 16 November 2012

ESI took part in the 1st Conference on Smart Cooperation: "Territorial cooperation fostering European Integration: Cities and Regions linking across borders" in La Coruña in Spain on 25 and 26 June 2012, with 400 participants from the four corners of Europe and beyond. This conference aimed to highlight the advantages and opportunities of European Territorial Cooperation to overcome the challenges and difficulties Europe faces in a time of crisis, while close to 196 million European citizens, 37% of the population, live in a border region.

The Conseil Général du Pas-de-Calais is an ESI Representative and during the conference, took part in the workshop "Cooperation contributes to sustainable growth: An Atlantic strategy to reduce our carbon footprint and CO2 emissions". Several examples (INSPIRER, CHARM3 projects) were used to demonstrate that straits are living laboratories for sustainable growth and cooperation.

This conference was also an opportunity to meet senior officials from European institutions, as well as players in the Conference of European Cross-border and Interregional City Networks(CECICN), created in 2010 to foster territorial cooperation between border cities.