URBENENERGY First Partner meeting, Avrig, Romania, 15 & 16 February 2010

The kick-off meeting with the participation of a broader partnership (Avrig, Tulln, Durham, Dve Mogili, CNR IMAA, Nice, Worms) and in the honorable presence of the Head of URBACT Secretariat, Mr. Jean-Loup Drubigny, took place in Avrig, Romania on 15 & 16 February 2010. Jean-Loup Drubigny attended the first day meeting which much interest advising the partnership on further proceedings and developments.

Representatives of a Bucharest based Public Relations company were also present; Petrom, the large oil company for which they are currently consulting wishes to integrate energy efficiency (EE) & Renewable energy sources (RES) approaches into its CSR policy. In addition, representatives of the local media also visited the workshop. Pyrgos and the then would-be partners, Eindhoven and Dunaújváros, could not attend the meeting but they were informed about the conclusions.

The kick-off meeting was opened by Mr Arnold Gunter Klingeis, Mayor of Avrig, who introduced the vision Avrig regarding EE and use of RES and explained the ambitions and objectives of the city. It resulted in the introduction of the new partners and in an agreement upon the project outlines including timelines, partners’ tasks and responsibilities until submission of the project to the URBACT Programme authorities.

The main topics for discussion held in form of workshops covered issues such as requirements of the URBACT programme, state-of-the-art prepared by the Mr Hen Gerritse, Lead Expert of the project, composition and function of the Local Support Groups (LSG) and the purpose of the Local Action Plans (LAPs). Projects partners exchanged information on the extended partnership, new partners were introduced and dates and contents of the city visits conducted by the Project’s Lead Expert have been settled.