AER President Dr Hande Özsan Bozatli and AER Secretary General Mathieu Mori spent the whole of last week meeting representatives of Spanish regions in their home regions. Politicians from AER member regions, Valenciana, Catalonia, Murcia but also non AER members Aragon, Navarra, Castilla la Mancha and Madrid welcomed the AER delegation. Going directly to the contact of the regions, in their environment, will enable AER to answer their needs even better. Understanding the reality of our territories to better serve their development is our core mission. Back to basics with this initiative !

With new executives in place in many of the regions visited, the timing was chosen to trigger discussion on the new priorities and ways of working of the regions.

While enthusiasm towards AER and good will to cooperate came out of the trip, the work is only starting. The AER member regions visited clearly showed will to deepen their cooperation with AER. Catalonia will for instance present a politician to take the lead on the sub-committee on youth at the next AER committee meeting in Timis ; Murcia will make proposals internally to work more on culture and the Mediterranean strategy. Non AER members have been invited to take part in future events to see concretely the work of AER and to meet current members with the aim that some of them will soon enrich the work of our Assembly.

We encourage you to read the article “AER President meets Spanish counterparts” and to go on the  AER facebook page to read a short report published after each meeting.

Starting Monday 4 April, AER will do a similar visit to various Italian regions. Should you wish to join the team on this trip, please get in touch with us !