EUSAIR - Final Report

15.15–16.00
PLENARY CLOSING SESSION
• Monika Kirbiš Rojs,
State Secretary, Government
Office for Development and
European Cohesion Policy,
Republic of Slovenia
• Jean-Pierre Halkin,
Head of Unit Macro-regions,
Transnational/Interregional
Cooperation, IPA, Enlargement,
European Commission
• Olta Xhacka, video message
by Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Albania
• Pellumb Qazimi,
Ambassador of the Republic
of Albania to Slovenia
MONIKA KIRBIŠ ROJS, STATE SECRETARY, GOVERNMENT
OFFICE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND EUROPEAN COHE-
SION POLICY, REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA
Distinguished guests, dear colleagues, partners, friends,
we have almost arrived at the end – of the 6 th EUSAIR forum and of the Slovene
Presidency of EUSAIR.
Slovenia is the seventh EUSAIR participating country to hold the EUSAIR and
AII Presidency. The whole period was marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, but
we immediately adapted to the new reality. None of the planned events has
been cancelled; even more, participation has actually increased via video links.
We can be more than proud that almost 5,000 participants visited or actively
participated in at least one of the more than 40 events that were held during
the Slovene Presidency. In these events:
• We have reached consensus about the flagship priorities to be embedded
into concrete funding programmes, European, regional and national;
discussions among the different programmes are still ongoing.
• As part of our EU enlargement agenda, the Presidency initiated a consultation
process to assess the relevance of EUSAIR flagships for the Economic and
Investment Plan and Green Agenda for the Western Balkans.
• Our thematic focus, Green Connectivity, has become a hub issue, not only
through all four pillars of our Strategy, but also beyond.
• The Presidency supported and initiated various forms of youth engagement: from
Climate Change Challenges in the educational process and awareness raising to
entrepreneurial thinking. National competitions (POPRI) for best entrepreneurial
ideas took place in all EUSAIR countries. My congratulations to all competitors!
• The prizes for civil society ambassadors – Windmills of Excellence – were awarded.
However, I am here today to close the 6 th Forum. A forum that has gathered
1000 registered participants, and at its side event B2B, it brought together
more than 121 institutions, which have conducted 64 meetings. It has also
gathered more than 40 students and their mentors who share concerns about
our common future. With additional record number of 3,000 young contestants
and their 1,000 mentors from educational institutions participating at EUSAIR
POPRI events and AII and ADRION programme side events joined by almost 400
people, forum and its side events were followed by ca 5,500 different groups of
stakeholders! I am impressed and deeply honoured to be a part of this gathering.
Let me sincerely thank all of those who were involved in preparation of the
Forum: from national coordinators, pillar coordinators, thematic steering group
members to the European Commission, the backstage scene setters – and also
you, speakers and participants. Last but not least, let me thank the dream team
of the EUSAIR Facility Point who are always there to find a way to move forward!
We say every end is a new beginning. For Slovenia, this end also means
the new beginning of the chairmanship at the EU Council.
Stay strong, stay involved, stay healthy!
64 | EUSAIR Slovene Presidency