EUSAIR - Final Report

Slovene
Presidency
of EUSAIR
20-21
The EU Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region (EUSAIR), launched in 2014
to become the third Macro-regional Strategy in the European Union,
covers an area of 70 million people from nine different countries. Of these,
four countries (Croatia, Greece, Italy and Slovenia) are members of the
European Union, and the other five are candidate countries or potential
candidates (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia
and Serbia).
The Adriatic-Ionian Region is one of the most interesting tourist destinations
on our continent. As many as seven of the 30 most visited regions in Europe
are located in this area. At the same time, it is rich in terms of cultural heritage,
since it contains a good 15% of all European attractions, the extraordinary
universal value of which UNESCO recognizes.
Its advantage is also in its strategic position, since through the Suez Canal it
enables an up to 3000 km shorter connection on the Central European markets
– Far East route. This ensures improved land-sea connectivity and intermodular
transport and increases the competitiveness of inland economies.
The EU Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region addresses the region's
concrete challenges with an action plan based on four interdependent
programme pillars: Blue Growth, Connecting the Region, Environmental
Quality and Sustainable Tourism. The joint efforts of all four include disaster
risk management, climate change mitigation and adaptation. In addition
to the maritime dimension, the plan also includes the hinterland.
10 | EUSAIR Slovene Presidency