Sardinia has signed a financing agreement with Palestine. The name at the bottom of the document is that of the President of the Region, Alessandra Todde and the initiative comes as part of the Interreg Next Med cooperation program of which the Island is the Managing Authority.
This is an important international agreement which, in this particularly delicate historical moment given the conflict situation in the Middle East, as stated in a note «offers Palestine access to European funding for the implementation of projects that promote economic development, environmental sustainability and social inclusion".
The one with Palestine «is the fourth agreement to be signed after those with Turkey, Tunisia and Jordan, to which will be added the agreements with the other non-European countries participating in the program, including Algeria, Egypt, Israel and Lebanon».
With an overall budget of over 260 million euros, the objective of Interreg Next Med is to create among the 15 participating countries – Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Jordan, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Palestine, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey – a strong and lasting partnership to develop in a concerted and synergistic way effective solutions to the challenges affecting the entire Mediterranean area.
«The management of the European Euro-Mediterranean cooperation program of the European Union and the presence on the island of a community of organizations with consolidated relationships with the Mediterranean countries», explains President Todde, «are the starting point for building the strategic, and not just geographical, centrality of Sardinia in the Mediterranean".
The Mediterranean, Todde highlights, can become "a driving force for the future development of the island, capable of generating opportunities for economic, institutional, cultural, social and environmental growth".
(Unioneonline)