25/11/2008

After three years of activity, the Euromed Audiovisual II programme recently held its final regional conference in Cairo as it draws to a close. The programme co-financed 12 projects aimed at structuring the audiovisual industry in the MEDIA countries and fostering exchange with Europe.

"The conference enabled us to take stock of the results of three years of activities, which in some cases exceeded the goals we set out to achieve", said Chrystelle Lucas, Programme Manager at the European Commission’s EuropeAid Cooperation Office, in an interview.

"During the first conference held in Berlin, Leonidas Kioussis, head of Sector at the European Commission’s EuropeAid Cooperation Office, when presenting the objectives of the programme, envisaged that 500 professionals would receive training. We have now ascertained that over 1000 professionals participated in the programme. This result has gone well beyond our expectations".

In his closing address at the conference, Jerome Cassiers, chief of Section at the Delegation of the European Commission in Morocco, stated: “We now need to continue to build on the results achieved by the programme”.

Lucas added: "Cassiers’ words echo those of the final declaration of the ministerial conference in Marseille, which took place on November 3 and 4. In its 2009 Work Programme, the declaration refers to the importance of the audiovisual sector and the need for follow-up to the programme: ‘Audiovisual media and cinema…are excellent vehicles for intercultural dialogue between the Euro-Mediterranean countries. On the basis of the previous Euromed Audiovisual programmes and the new strategy to enhance the Mediterranean audiovisual sector, approved at the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Meeting on Culture in 2008, a new Euromed Audiovisual Programme could be launched in 2009’”.

See the complete interview on the Euromed Audiovisual website.