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The Directors of the Vanguard Initiative’s members gather for a High-level meeting in Brussels
The Directors of the Vanguard Initiative’s members gather for a High-level meeting in Brussels
On 28 June the Vanguard Initiative held its annual High-level Directors’ Meeting in Brussels. During the meeting, the Directors took several steps forward in strengthening the cooperation within the network. The Directors also unanimously elected the Region of Navarra as new Chair of the Vanguard Initiative.
The annual High-level Directors’ meeting gathered representatives from 32 of the Vanguard Initiative’s member regions. During the meeting, the Directors further built upon the decisions that were made during the Annual Political Meeting in November 2017 and the achievements that have been reached since.
The first session of the meeting was dedicated to the future governance of the Vanguard Initiative. The Directors united on several positions that will take the collaboration within the network forward and strengthen the work of the Vanguard Initiative.
Furthermore, the Directors unanimously elected Navarra as Chair for the period July – December 2018. The Director of Business and Economic Policy in Navarra, Mrs Izaskun Goñi, thanked the Directors for electing Navarra as Chair and underlined the challenging moment that we are facing, with the new proposals coming from the European Commission, such as the Interregional Innovation Investments.
The second session of the meeting was dedicated to policy influencing. The Directors listened to good practice presentations on how regions can organise their membership in the Vanguard Initiative, and how Vanguard members work to highlight advances made within the network at national level.
The Directors also engaged in discussions on the future Multi Financial Framework, and the Directors especially welcomed the European Commission’s continued advancement of smart specialisation approaches in its future budget.
After the Directors’ meeting, the Vanguard Initiative released a press release, where the network remains fully committed to pursuing a constructive dialogue with the European Institutions, in order to continue our joint endeavours towards collaborative and competitive successes for all EU regions.