The idea of a large cross-border sports tournament, of various disciplines, to link the three founding municipalities and a more timely involvement of the committees in GO! 2025 initiatives: these were some of the themes that emerged in the meetings of the environment, sports, culture and education committees, which closed the "round" of meetings that began in early May with health, urban planning and transport.
The need to identify projects to focus on in the post-GO! 2025 period in all thematic areas was, however, the common thread running through the meetings of the EGTC GO committees, during which members were, in addition, briefed on the many projects in place and their possible involvement. The six committees, advisory bodies relaunched after the EGTC GO Assembly in December 2023, are composed of representatives appointed by the three founding municipalities-Gorizia, Nova Gorica, and Šempeter-Vrtojba.

ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE

The committee members discussed four main issues. First, it was agreed that the environment and energy committees could work more efficiently if they were merged, given also the interpenetration of issues of competence. This possibility will be discussed by the EGTC GO assembly at its next meeting. Second, the committee identified two priority objectives for which to gather project ideas and then seek appropriate funding lines after GO! 2025: these are the Soča River and urban parks. The third topic discussed was the issue of odorigenic emissions from the bitumen factory, Asfaltna baza, in Vrtojba. This issue was discussed by the committee following solicitations received from Legambiente of Gorizia. Given that EGTC GO does not have specific in-house expertise on this issue, a meeting is scheduled with Arpa and Arso to gather more information and define a possible active cooperation protocol. Legambiente will be informed of the outcome of the meeting. As a final point, the EGTC GO representative explained to the committee members the intention to proceed with obtaining Global Sustainable Tourism Certification (GSTC) for the cross-border territory of the three municipalities. This is a unique quality certification concerning the tourism sustainability of a territory that is promoted by the United Nations Environment Agency (UNEP) and would be implemented for the first time in a cross-border territory with great practical as well as symbolic value.

SPORT COMMITTEE
A cross-border tournament involving the sports realities of the area and the different sports practiced such as basketball, volleyball, soccer, tennis, handball, beach volleyball: this is the project idea discussed during the sports committee, designed for 2025. Sports, as is well known, was one of the first meeting points to overcome border divisions: just remember the friendship marches. Committee members will work to identify Italian and Slovenian sports associations willing to collaborate on this project, along with indoor and outdoor spaces in the territory of the three municipalities. Funding lines for such a project would be sought in the appropriate calls of the FVG Region: the deadline to apply is November 2024, so the committee is committed to working on the draft project in the coming months. Members of the sports committee were also informed about various sports and related initiatives (GO! Games - cross-border games, GO! Gaming - board games). Another topic discussed was the popularity of the climbing wall present in the municipality of Šempeter-Vrtojba and frequented by young Italians and Slovenians: for this there is a willingness to seek a line of funding to facilitate the construction of a climbing wall in Gorica in connection also with the idea of proceeding with the redevelopment of the Soča River expressed by the environment committee.

CULTURE AND EDUCATION COMMITTEE
The discussion of the Culture and Training Committee focused on Legacy 2025. Members were introduced to the Interreg BeWop project and other EGTC GO collaborations related to culture and GO! 2025. The culture committee emphasized its willingness to organize a meeting with members of the other committees, the director, and the program manager of the Javni zavod GO! 2025 to be informed of the events that will take place during 2025 and to enhance the role of the culture committee in this regard. Committee members also emphasize their willingness to be involved for new project ideas for after 2025. The coordination meeting will be organized before the summer.