Note: this event will be held in connection to the Lead Partner Seminar on 8th of September

The online registration is now closed.

This year’s Annual Conference for the Northern Periphery Programme 2007-2013 will be a meeting focused on enhancing the quality of project implementation. 

What is the conference about?
The topic of the conference is “Stimulating Growth, Social Inclusion and Equal Opportunities in rural areas through enhanced rural business development and core service provision”. This topic corresponds with the NPP 2007-2013 horizontal principle of equal opportunities. 

In addition, the conference is connected to the European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion, 2010.

The purpose of the conference is to improve the implementation of the horizontal principle of equal opportunities by NPP projects and stimulate business development in rural areas through social inclusion and equal opportunities.

In more detail, the conference aims to:

• To raise awareness among running projects and programme bodies about the relevance of equal opportunities for project implementation, project outcomes and opportunities for the NPP area as a whole.
• To provide good practice examples of concrete steps for furthering equal opportunities.
• To show how social inclusion and equal opportunities can form part of developing businesses in rural areas.
• To provide practical tips and tools for projects to integrate equal opportunities better in project implementation and outcomes that projects can put into practice with their partnerships after the event.

Who is the conference for?
The conference is primarily targeted at Lead Partner and Partner organisations and their project coordinators, who are responsible for the day-to-day management of the project. The maximum number of participants per project is three persons. 

The Members of the Programme Monitoring Committee, Regional Contact Points and other relevant stakeholders interested in the NPP 2007-2013 are most welcome to participate in the conference. 

Setup

The conference will be a 1-day event. We expect the conference to finish by 4pm so that participants can start their home journey on the 9th of September from Shannon International Airport, which is a 10-15 minute drive from the venue. This airport services many EU and transatlantic destinations including London hubs. 

A first announcement and the programme are available in pdf. 

Participants are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation. 

The Lead Partner seminar/ Annual Conference will be held in the Bunratty Castle Hotel, Bunratty, Co Clare. Telephone +353 61 478700, e-mail:info@bunrattycastlehotel.com. The Hotel also operates an airport shuttle coach to and from the hotel which can be pre-booked with the hotel.

The costs per person per night are €75 including breakfast. Please use the following booking reference: "BMW Regional Assembly/Northern Periphery Conference". Please book early.

If you have any questions about the event, please send an e-mail to secretariat@northernperiphery.eu. We also advise you to keep yourself updated through this website. 

On behalf of the Programme Monitoring Committee,

Niclas Forsling
Head of Secretariat Northern Periphery Programme