Kick-Off Event of the Operational Programme Slovenia-Hungary 2007-2013

In the framework of the Operational Programme Slovenia-Hungary 2007-2013, the Government Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy as the Managing Authority for the mentioned programme has organized a Kick-off event. The Kick-off event took place on 5. September 2008 in the Hotel Habakuk in Maribor. The event was also attended by the Minister Dr. Ivan Žagar, responsible for local self-government and regional policy and the hungarian State Secretary Dr.Molnár Csaba from the Ministry for national development and economy.

Around 150 attendees from Slovenia and Hungary, who represent various institutes, development agencies, universities and municipalities, were interested in the participation in the programme, presented at the event.

At the today’s presentation the slovenian minister dr. Ivan Žagar pointed out that the increase of funds opens even more opportunities, which is why he wishes in the future a lot of successful and regional development-oriented projects by including as many citizens, insitutions and institutes from both sides of the border as possible. He also expresses the view that the entire population of this area would take advantage as much as possible of the opportunities offered by the European Union.

Hungarian state secretary dr.Molnár Csaba has also stressed out the importance of the cross-border cooperation between both countries, especially between the people who live and work in the border area.

The second part of the Kick-off event was devoted to the informative workshop, where was presented the Application pack, published in the framework of the 1st Call for Proposals. After the presentation of the Operational Programme Slovenia-Hungary 2007-2013, the Managing Authority and the Joint Technical Secretariat introduced the 1st Call and the Application pack. They announced the date for the planned workshops in September and forwarded explanations and instructions on how to fill in the forms. The conclusion of the event was devoted to the questions of the attendees.