Representatives of over 100 institutions and organisations from Poland and Ukraine met on 18-20th April in Rzeszów at the Partner Search Forum. This was the first open event under the new Interreg NEXT Programme Poland-Ukraine 2021-2027 and was entirely devoted to the HEALTH priority.
Participants of the Forum were directors of hospitals, emergency services and long-term care facilities, local government officials and representatives of universities and NGOs from across the Programme area. On behalf of the Managing Authority - the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy, the event was opened by Magdalena Rudzińska, Head of the Management and Control Systems Unit in the Territorial Cooperation Department:
Polish-Ukrainian cooperation has been bringing together partners on both sides of the border for 20 years now. Interreg has already created many effects, and we want more to be created. The first call under the programme will be announced in May and will last until July.
A member of the Monitoring Committee, Marshall of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship Władysław Ortyl, emphasised the Programme's role in the development of not only the borderlands, but also the whole Polish-Ukrainian and pan-European cooperation:
It is also very important for us to support Ukraine's preparations for accession to the European Union. We are all waiting for the moment when this brutal war will end, so that this EU accession can happen as soon as possible. Of course, a great deal of preparation is needed for this and the Interreg Programme can certainly be one important experience.
For many applicants, however, the challenge is to find a partner on the other side of the border and a field of cooperation consistent with the Programme's objectives and their own needs.
This forum is a chance to consult your ideas right away, to ask around, to ask questions, because it is a platform for looking for new partnerships, finding out what the needs are, and finally working out a vision of how to implement these needs for the benefit of Polish and Ukrainian beneficiaries, explained Dr Leszek Buller - Director of the Center of European Projects in Warsaw.
The first part of the event presented the main principles of the new Programme and the experience of previous projects. In the second part, future partners had the opportunity to show their institutions and organisations, as well as ideas for joint cross-border projects.
Writing a good project is first and foremost a question of accuracy and an idea that has potential, because it is clear that by implementing your own plans you can show that they are important and worthy of funding, noted Volodymyr Dybel from the Lyuboml Territorial Healthcare Association in Ukraine.
In total, more than 200 institutions and organizations from both sides of the border were willing to participate in the event. Here is the full list:
Below, we also include the presentations of the Forum speakers:
In just a few days' time, on 26-28th April, a similar opportunity to meet and discuss future projects will be available to the participants of the Partner Search Forum in Lublin, which will be devoted to the ENVIRONMENT priority.
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