On Wednesday 1 February representatives from ministries, cross-border organisations and Nordregio met for the official kick-off for the new Nordic Thematic Groups for Regional Development & Planning.
Over 60 people participated in this initial meeting at Nordregio where the objectives and aims of the groups were presented along with the new themes. The programme period is four years and the thematic groups are expected to develop projects throughout the full period. The thematic groups, which are three, build upon the work of the Nordic Working Groups which were running from 2013 till the end of 2016. These new thematic groups are larger than the previous groups when it comes to the number of members in each group
The new groups have the following themes:
- Sustainable Rural Development
- Innovative and Resilient Regions
- Sustainable Cities and Urban Development
Each group also has to consider these horizontal themes in their work:
- Children and youth
- Economic, social and environmental sustainability
- Equality
- Integration
- Arctic
- Administrative reforms
- Tourism (new)
The kick-off started with a communal meeting for all participants and continued with workshops where participants were asked to come up with project themes that they would like to focus on over the next two years. The deadline for the first plans is 15 March. A programme website will be set up shortly after that with more information about each group.
More information about the cooperation programme can be found here.
