The EGTC GO welcomed yesterday the international delegations which arrived in Gorizia for the international event Interreg GO!, which takes place today and tomorrow between Gorizia and Nova Gorica. About 500 participants from all over Europe will be involved in the two-day event promoted by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy. The Presidency, management and staff of the EGTC GO - among the co-organisers of the event - will host a welcome event at the GO! Centre, kicking off the dialogue between the various representatives.

The annual INTERREG event represents an important opportunity to reflect on the future of European programming, and the choice of the cross-border territory where the EGTC GO operates as a symbol of this perspective is a source of great pride. ‘When - as recently as two years ago - I met Slawomir Tokarski in Gorizia and he told me his idea of organising the annual Interreg event in 2025 in our territory, as EGTC we immediately made ourselves available and welcomed this opportunity with great enthusiasm,’ explains President Paolo Petiziol.

Slawomir Tokarski, Director of the Interreg and Macro-regional Strategies Unit of DG Regio (Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission) and organiser of the event explained his choice for the important event as follows: ‘We have decided to organise our Interreg GO! together with the GO! 2025 European Capital of Culture because we find the cities of Nova Gorica and Gorizia highly symbolic. European Union’s commitment to bridging divides and fostering community, which is at the heart of its motto: “United in Diversity”. This motto, “United in Diversity”, truly captures the spirit of GO! 2025. GO! 2025 represents a unique collaboration between two cities historically divided by borders but now (re)united through shared values and a rich cultural heritage. For us this symbolises our Europe. Breaking down the old hostilities and building together for a new future. And this is thanks to cross-border cooperation. So, it also symbolises Interreg.’ 

The numerous cross-border territories straddling the national borders of European countries are at the heart of the Interreg investment plan. Indeed, this programme aims to promote transnational cooperation, strengthening relations between neighbouring communities and fostering their economic, social and cultural development.

As part of the Interreg annual event programme, the EGTC GO has been chosen as an international case study for two of the six thematic sessions to be held tomorrow, Friday 28 March. The first, entitled ‘The People-to-people recipe’, will explore how to combine innovative ideas, small-scale funding and simple rules to achieve big results. This panel will illustrate the funding of the GO! 2025 Small Projects Fund, managed by the EGTC GO as part of Interreg Italy-Slovenia. Through two calls, 56 cross-border projects have already been financed by the EGTC GO. The fund aims to support local initiatives that foster cross-border cooperation and community development by leveraging the European Capital of Culture 2025 Nova Gorica - Gorizia. The meeting will be held at the Castagnevizza Monastery and will give participants the opportunity to talk to some of the beneficiaries of the funded projects.

The second session, ‘How Interreg is enhancing Cross-Border Health’, will highlight the Health-Zdravstvo Project, which through cooperation between Italy and Slovenia has developed a number of services aimed at improving the cross-border health sector. This panel will present the initiatives and results achieved so far, which include the creation of shared care paths, continuous training of medical personnel, and the establishment of cross-border health centres. Participants in the meeting will have the opportunity to visit the Slovenian and Italian facilities directly involved in the project, including the Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health House at the Basaglia Park. We would like to remind you that the Health-Zdravstvo Project had also been awarded on previous occasions, winning the EGTC Award ‘Building Europe across borders’ in 2022, assigned by the jury of the European Committee of the Regions, and receiving a special mention as a good practice in the context of the VALORE PUBBLICO- La Pubblica Amministrazione che funziona tender, an initiative of the SDA Bocconi School of Management and the GEDI publishing group (with the patronage of the Ministry of Public Administration, the Department for Public Administration, the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research and the Department of Justice).  

The Interreg GO! conference is a professional event, open to invited guests. The organisers and main partners of the Interreg GO! are the European Commission, represented by DG REGIO (Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission), Interreg (overall programme for European territorial cooperation), Interact (support and coordination for Interreg programmes), Interreg Italia-Slovenija, EGTC GO (European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation of Gorizia, Nova Gorica and Šempeter-Vrtojba), the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development of Slovenia, the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, the Municipality of Gorizia, the Municipality of Nova Gorica.