John Bachtler recently chaired a UK Presidency Conference on the Regional and Rural Development Programmes 2007-2013: Delivering the Lisbon and Gothenburg Agendas, held in Newcastle-Gateshead on 7-8 November 2005.
Organised by the UK Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Conference was attended by government ministers, senior officials, programme managers, academics and NGOs from across Europe.
It provided a timely opportunity to review progress on the National Strategic Reference Frameworks and Rural Development Strategies as well as preparations for the next generation of Structural Funds and Rural Development programmes and the degree to which they are contributing to meeting the Lisbon and Gothenburg targets. A background paper for the Conference was also prepared by John Bachtler, Tobias Gross and Irene McMaster. Further information on the Conference is available here: