SEE Annual Event 2010 in Thessaloniki, Greece
About 300 participants from 20 countries attended this year's
SEE Annual Event held on September 21st and
22nd 2010 in Thessaloniki, Greece. The organisers
gathered contributions from experts not directly involved in the
SEE Programme to make the most out of the possibilities offered by
the SEE Programme. Some useful inputs were also provided through
the presentation of other transnational programmes: MED, Alpine
Space, Central Europe Programme and North Sea region Programme. The
management, selection and development procedures are more or less
similar in all these programmes, but what was repeatedly underlined
is the importance of workshops during which projects can share
experiences and interact, by organizing joint events, using each
others' outcomes to exploit all opportunities within the programme
framework.
The annual event is also used for the preparation of the
subsequent calls for proposals, in particular for strategic
projects. Through dedicated workshops, lead partners and project
partners gave their contribution by bringing their own experiences,
presenting outputs and highlighting issues affecting the programme
region, that can be solved through new project proposals.
The SEETAC project was exhibited with during the projects' fair
(together with the other 15 projects funded by the SEE Programme
within the first call of proposals), where the brochures of SEE
projects were distributed to participants.
The project was represented at the event by Ms. Ana Sinkovic
from CEI (SEETAC Lead Partner) and by Mr. Marios Miltiadou from The
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Project Partner. Both
representatives attended the Workshop of the second day of the
event on "Greener intermodal solution for accessibility". The
project was further presented within the Workshop, by Mr.
Miltiadou, who gave a presentation Green Intermodal Freight
Transport in SEE, which served as a basis for the discussion of the
respective subtopic that followed and that he was assigned to
moderate.
The discussion was made on the basis of the framework with
strategic directions depicted in a document prepared by the SEE JTS
after the 1st stakeholders' meeting in Dubrovnik in July
2010. The results of the discussion, after some useful remarks and
inputs from the participants, could be summarised in the following
way:
- Provision of improved intermodal connections of ports with
hinterlands, access of landlocked countries to ports and multimodal
gateways via "greener" corridors;
- Spatial planning and better coordination of investment plans
and development of an integrated intermodal freight transport
system according to the intermodal terminals capacities;
- Improved cooperation between the various stakeholders (port
authorities, customs and other authorities present at border
crossings), harmonisation and simplification of border
procedures;
- Introduction of new advanced technologies and training of the
staff on their better exploitation;
- Raising the awareness of users about the alternatives offered
by the other "greener" modes of transport than roads;
- Synergy between on-going projects of the SEE Programme and
capitalisation of their outputs and results.
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