This year’s 13th Interreg Cooperation Day took place under the auspices of the European Commission. On Saturday, the results and importance of cross-border cooperation projects were presented in the cross-border area of the Geopark Karawanken-Karavanke. The participants visited Dravograd and the Bukovje Manor in the spirit of cross-border cooperation and sustainability and concluded the visit on the Austrian side of the cross-border mountain Peca.
The Interreg Cooperation Day (IC Day) events are organised for the general public. The organisers aim to showcase the results of projects and cross-border cooperation. The European Territorial Cooperation programmes, more widely known as the Interreg programmes that represent the second Cohesion Policy pillar, provide a framework for implementing joint actions, encouraging regions and countries to tackle common challenges and promoting balanced economic, social and regional development.
This year’s event was set in a cross-border environment, where many projects have been and continue to be implemented. These projects would not have been possible without the Interreg programmes. The event, which took place in the cross-border area of the Slovenian Koroška and the Austrian Carinthia, was organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development, the Managing Authority of the Interreg Slovenia-Austria cross-border cooperation programme, in cooperation with the project partners of the Drau-Drava Run, NaKult and Nature Game projects. The three projects are a good example of successful cross-border cooperation in terms of bringing people together, especially in the field of natural and cultural heritage and sustainable development of border regions.
More than 230 participants from the whole programme area travelled by bus to Dravograd to watch the start of the second cross-border half marathon organised in the framework of the Drau-Drava Run project. Such small-scale projects increase the visibility of cross-border cooperation and trust between people in the programme area. Under the slogan 2 COUNTRIES 1 GOAL, runners from Dravograd ran to Lavamünd. The event, organised last year in the reverse direction (from Lavamünde in Austria to Dravograd in Slovenia), coincided this year with the Interreg Cooperation Day.
We then went to the Bukovje Manor, where the participants visited the exhibition and information centre, established in the framework of the NaKult project. The participants were briefly addressed by Aleš Mrkela, Head of the Managing Authority, Uroš Rozman, Director of Regional Development Agency Koroška and Tomaž Rožen, Mayor of the Ravne na Koroškem Municipality and President of the European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation.
Participants then crossed the border and took a gondola lift to the Austrian side of the Peca mountain. The group also went on a panoramic hike and visited the Geo.Dom centre, established under the NatureGame project. We experienced a piece of the cross-border adventure network of excursion destinations and saw the geotourism product that has been created. The main focus throughout the day was on the fact that without cross-border projects, such cooperation would most likely not be possible, as well as the many concrete results for citizens, which have a long-term impact on the economy, tourism and the preservation of the rich natural and cultural heritage.
The aim of the event was to raise awareness of the importance of cooperation and to present project results to the general public and all interested parties. The Interreg Cooperation Day reminds the general public that we can overcome the obstacles that exist because of borders by working together and that it is our diversity that is the foundation for new ideas and cooperation that result in the development of shared areas where we live.
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