9.30 - 10.10 Welcome session Ovidiu Nahoi, Romanian journalist, is the editor-in-chief of Radio France International Romania. He started his career in 1990 in the first independent radio station in Romania, Unifan / Uniplus, as a presenter and editor of the news. He pursued an intense activity in the written press, in publications such as Ora, Privire, Mediafax Press Agency, Evenimentul zilei, Adevărul. He was reporter on internal policy, then head of the department and deputy chief editor, columnist and commentator. During 2010-2012 he was a correspondent in Brussels for Adevărul newspaper. At the same time, he was a collaborator of the Dilema Veche magazine, titled "ME and EU" [Romanian: “EU şi UE”], as well as programmer at several radio and television stations, such as ProTV, TVR, RFI Romania, The Money Channel. He is a permanent collaborator of Reporter Global magazine. Gabriel Friptu, Deputy Director, Programming and System Coordination Department, has more than 20 years experience in the field of European funds. Specialist with extensive experience in central administration in several institutions, where he has held leading positions in the Council for Reform, the Romanian Government, the National Agency for Regional Development, the Ministry of Development and Prognosis, the Ministry of European Integration, the ROP Managing Authority and the Ministry of European Funds. Claudia Ionescu is the Head of the Department for Regional Promotion and Investment in Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Development Agency (BIRDA). With 20 years of experience in the promotion and implementation of the regional development policy as head of the regional promotion department within the Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Development Agency, she has over 15 years of pedagogical practice in universities from: Germany, Slovakia, Spain, Poland and Romania, having as topic of debate the policy of regional development, sustainable development policy and project management. 10.10 - 10.30 Special guest Ossi Savolainen, Regional Mayor, Helsinki-Uusimaa, Finlanda Prior to that, he served as the Mayor of City of Hyvinkää in 2006– 2007 and Social and Health Director 2002–2006, Head of Technical Services in 2000–2002, Head of Administration in City of Heinola. He has been a Chairman of the Baltic Sea States Subregional Cooperation network in 2013-2016. He is also the chairman of the Finnish Baseball Federation. Mr. Savolainen has a Master’s Degree in Health Care. 10.30 – 12.00 Panel I: Priorities and Challenges of the Cohesion Policy post-2020 The European Union faces new challenges for the post-2020 period. Thus, Cohesion Policy must increasingly focus on competitiveness by supporting innovation, skills and employment as key factors for convergence real and lasting cohesion. Also, the intention of the European Commission's new proposal for a Multiannual Financial Framework post-2020 is to improve the management of the EU budget in order to increase European added value and avoid replacing national funds with European ones, as happened after the economic crisis of 2008-2009. Răsvan Roceanu is senior editor at Radio Romania Bucuresti FM Former activity as journalist: Deputy Editor in chief at the Newsroom - Radio Romania News, Editor in chief - "The Investor" magazine, Special envoy of Radio Romania in Brussels, Paris, London and Washington DC. Milena Karadjova has a PhD in Administrative Law and Administrative Process with a focus on legal mechanism to overcome the conflict of interest in public procurements. She is Attorney at Law in the College o Barristers in Sofia, plus a registered Mediator with the Ministry of justice-Bulgaria with a vast experience in administrative and public legal framework. Since 2001, she is teaching classes at the New Bulgarian University from Sofia with topics such as: „European law”, „Public property”, „Legal Regulation of Pubclic Procurement”, „Development of Property Rights in Bulgaria”, „Civil Servants Legislation in Bulgaria”. Daniela-Luminița Constantin is a Professor of Economics and Regional and Urban Policy at the AES (Academy of Economic Scienses) Bucharest and Director of the Research Center for Regional Macroeconomic Forecasts from AES. Also, she is the President of the Romanian Association of Regional Sciences, member of the European Regional Science Association Lead Council and member of the European Organizing Committee of ERSA. She conducted important research internships abroad, as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1998) and at the George Mason University - Washington DC (2014-2015), a DAAD scholar (universities in Heidelberg, Freiburg and Karlsruhe - Germany between 1993 and 2011), Tempus (University of Reading, UK - 1994, Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands - 1997, University of Toulouse, France 2000), scholar of the Romanian Academy at Wirtschafts University in Vienna – 2003, 2005 . Gabriel Pascariu graduated the University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu" (Bucharest) with a PhD in human geography. The main teaching activities refer to courses on territorial planning, regional development, strategic planning, inner city areas problems and coordination of the territorial planning studios. Associated professor since 1998, to several universities and coordinator of the master programme for "Territorial Planning and Regional Development". Professional activity includes participation to urban studies and researches on urban and territorial planning, consultancy in European projects for regional and local economic development, articles published in several journals, books and reports as well as participation to conferences, seminars, workshops, exhibitions in the fields of urban planning, human geography and regional development as author, co-author, organizer, curator or member of a jury. Also, member of various national and international planning associations. Simona Curpăn, Promotion Expert, Department for regional promotion and investment, Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Development Agency. She has almost 15 years of experience in regional development promotion activities and public relations, helpdesk activities for potential beneficiaries of structural funds, in particular Regional Operational Programme. She gained experience in communication activities participating also in international seminars and study tours in Belgium, Italy,Netherland, Irland. 13.30 - 15.00 Panel II: Dialogues with the actors involved in regional development The benefits of cohesion policy are not abstract or bureaucratic - they come to respond to concrete needs of citizens, having a direct, tangible impact on everyday life. It creates jobs, offers opportunities for economic and social development, provides access to better education and health services, helps fight social exclusion and supports marginalized communities, supports the development of rail and road networks, etc. Cohesion policy is, in fact, the guarantee of increasing the quality of life for European citizens. In this context, it is appropriate that the institutions in the Bucharest-Ilfov region, involved in accessing European funds, should expose their experience gained during the previous programming period (2007-2013) and discuss the new European funding opportunities. Manuela Preoteasa founded EURACTIV.ro in Romania 15 years ago, under the franchise of the pan-European network EURACTIV. The Brussels-based office covers European policies and has relevant regional coverage at national levels. EURACTIV Romania has a special focus on European funds, education, especially civic education media literacy. EURACTIV Romania, in partnership with EURACTIV organizations within the network or other relevant and credible partners, gets actively involved in organizing events which promote European values. Lili Gancheva, Bulgaria, graduated at ‘Sf. Kliment Ohridski’ University from Sofia, Bulgaria, Informational Science, Philosophy and Librarian studies, and she is a close friend of Romanian culture and language, being attested by the Quest Association, registered member of the Journalists and Writers Association from Romania, Honorific citizen of the city of Giurgiu, plus a Diploma for outstanding achievements from The Ministry of External Affairs. ‘Romanian-Bulgarian relationship in the field of books and written media, 1820-1878’ and ‘Bucharest – close and un-know’ are two books she wrote.She has more than ten year experience in project management for cultural and tourism promotion in cross border region. Nuria Fornes Sayas is a young professional with a strong background in international business and digital marketing. At EURADA (the European Association of Development Agencies) she oversees new proposals for projects and helps the Association with all the paperwork related to them. She searches for new EU funding opportunities interesting for our members. Since August 2018, she is working in the tender ReConfirm where EURADA takes part as a member of the Consortium. Also, she is writing a study about the different models of regional development agencies in Europe. The study will gather the different activities, structure and governance of the agencies. Finally, she also represents EURADA as policy officer in different events. Eliza Vaș, expert within the Studies and Analyses Unit, European Institute of Romania, Vice-President of the Young Initiative Association and member of YMCA Europe Youth Policy Group. She has been working for more than four years in the governmental administration and has a nine- years’ experience in the nonprofit