This year’s Czech National Conference was organized in the period from October 1st until October 3rd, in a small town just a few kilometers from the Czech-Austrian border.
The National Conference “Rural space 2012” was held at the time when one programming period is ending and the other is just being prepared, in an area where two different worlds meet, at a time when the differences between towns and rural areas are blurred to the extent that there are problems to define what’s rural. 280 representatives from the Local Action Groups in Czech Republic, Czech ministries, NGOs and business sector’s representatives, discussed the problems of all 160 LAGs established on the basis of the LEADER approach and tried to find original way to sustainability.
Two representatives of the Rural Development Network of Republic of Macedonia, one representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy, representative from one Macedonian consulting company and Delchevo Municipality Mayor’s counselor, attended the conference. During the conference they had a meeting with representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture of Czech Republic and representatives from a couple of LAGs. Many experiences within the LEADER approach, its implementation in Czech Republic, as well as the work of the LAGs and their opportunities for a mutual and an international cooperation, were shared at the meeting.
The meeting resulted in pre-arranging a future gathering, this time in the Republic of Macedonia; open opportunities for further cooperation and support offered by Czech representatives for the implementation of the LEADER approach at the national level in Macedonia.