The Regional Development Fund of Western Macedonia / Region of Western Macedonia and stakeholders’ representatives from Western Macedonia of the ECOWASTE4FOOD project, which is co-funded by the Interreg Europe program, attended the 4^th Steering Committee and the 4^th Interregional Stakeholders Workshop, at the premises of the Regional Council of the Region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, in Marseille, France.

The 4^th Steering Committee took place on July 3, 2018, with the participation of all of its memberς coming from the ECOWASTE4FOOD project partners. The Steering Committee aimed at reviewing project progress and discussing future planning and important modifications in the planning in order to achieve project objectives. The technical consultant of the Regional Development Fund of Western Macedonia / Region of Western Macedonia presented the actions implemented during the third semester of project implementation and participated along with the RDFWM representatives in the consultation of the planning and in the respective decision-making process at the level of the Steering Committee.

The 4^th Interregional Stakeholders Workshop took place on July 4 and 5, 2018 and aimed at discussing the Regional Action Plans of the project’s regions as well as the degree of their acceptance by the Managing Authorities of the respective Regional Operational Programmes. Stakeholders’ representatives from all project regions participated in the workshop while the representative from Western Macedonia was an expert in the Regional Operational Programme planning. The technical consultant of the Regional Development Fund of Western Macedonia / Region of Western Macedonia presented the revised Action Plan for Western Macedonia, the drafting and revision methodology used and the actions that have been completed for the consultation of the Action Plan with the Managing Authority of the Regional Operational Programme of Western Macedonia 2014-2020. The progress in the drafting of the Action Plan and the actions of RDFWM for the integration of relevant actions in the regional operational programme, set an example for the rest of the partners who, in most of the cases, have not yet completed the drafting of their Action Plans and they asked for tips and advice in the drafting and consultation of their Action Plans. The 4^th Interregional Stakeholders Meeting concluded with the discussion about the next steps for the finalization of the Action Plans in all project regions including the continuation of consultations at regional level, the Peer-Review of the Action Plans and the promotion of the Action Plans through events that will take place in all project regions.

More information about the ECOWASTE4FOOD project can be found at:  https://www.interregeurope.eu/ecowaste4food/ .