The Interreg GO! Youth Event was held on 26th March 2025, which aimed to present European Territorial Cooperation and the opportunities dedicated to young people.
The event was organised by the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia 2021-2027 Programme in cooperation with the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission (DG REGIO) and took place at the University of Trieste in Gorizia.
During the opening greetings, the Councillor for Finance of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia stressed the importance of the involvement of young people in the Interreg programmes. The wish for a greater involvement of young people was also expressed by the Director of the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission, Slawomir Tokarsky, and by Laura Comelli, Managing Authority of the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia Programme 2021-2027.
In the first part of the meeting the participants had the opportunity to learn about the European Territorial Cooperation programmes and how they support the development of European regions. An example of the contribution of Interreg projects was offered by the testimonies of two young researchers involved in the CircularRainbow project and the representative of the BeWoP and WALKofPEACE+ projects. The first part of the event was closed with the testimonies of young people who are already involved in European Territorial Cooperation through the activities promoted by the by the European Commission under the Youth4Cooperation brand.
In the second part of the meeting, we had the opportunity to host Jean Pierre Halkin, Head of Unit at the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission, Moja Aljančič, Director General at the Directorate for Cohesion Policy of the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development of the Republic of Slovenia, and Raffaele Parlangeli, Director General at the Department for the cohesion policy and the south at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic,The three guests took part in panel discussion where various topics concerning the future of the Interreg programmes were discussed.
The event ended with the presentation of the winners of the video competition "Italy-Slovenia in 30 seconds", organised by the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia Programme 2021-2027. Irene Bonomi and Raffaele Martina were respectively awarded the first and second prize.
