News

The future of European mountain areas discussed

03.11.2014

Three hundred people from more than 15 European countries attended the Ninth European Mountain Convention on “Quality from the Mountains: Prosperity for the People and Territories” on 22-24 October 2014 in Bilbao, Spain. The conference, organized by the Department of Economic Development and Competitiveness of the Basque Government and Euromontana was funded by the European Commission under the information campaign  “A new CAP – Mountains of opportunities” of the new Common Agricultural Policy.

Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of the Basque Government Policy Bittor Oroz opened the convention, along with Efthimia Bokias, Head of the Rural Development Unit of the European Commission; Asier Abaunza, representing the City of Bilbao; and Juanan Gutierrez, President of Euromontana.

"The politics of food quality has been a key issue for the Basque Government for the last 25 years and we are now at a turning point it which regenerating the primary sector and revitalizing rural mountain areas is needed, " said Oroz, who emphasized the importance of cooperation and collaboration with other actors and institutions. “In that sense, events like this facilitate this work and are absolutely necessary in a globalized world," he said.

Participants heard about initiatives that are being developed in different European regions to revitalize mountain areas and strengthen the value chains of local products , their quality and the mountains themselves. This information is expected to serve to share know-how for developing future strategies to value mountain.

Following the presentations in the morning, afternoon sessions featured various workshops, topics such as mountain products, territories and innovation; cross-promotion of products and territories; mountain value chains, income generation and employment; quality, traceability and control improvement.

Objectives of the Convention:

• Explore how new European policies, particularly the CAP in the EU can contribute to the structuring of value chains and territories through brands and labels , valuing specific territories and dimension mountain ( investment cooperation promotion, quality improvement, innovation ...): potential of the European framework and employees (or not) in the programs of the various regions and member states. Comparison with non-EU countries.

• Facilitate the exchange of ideas between Local Action Groups in the mountains, so they can compare and improve the preparation of local development strategies with respect to territorial marketing and product promotion Mountain : benchmarking, presenting initiatives interesting ...

• Explore how the family dimension of mountain agriculture can be positively valued strategies and product labeling and promotion services.

• Prepare contributions for EXPO 2015 on the theme, "Feeding the planet , energy for life": how can mountain quality products meet the challenges of food security in the future?

Read more