The Congress was organised in Rybnik, Poland, (29 September – 1 October) by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), in partnership with the Association of Polish Cities, a CEMR member association, and the City of Rybnik, with the financial support of the European Commission and under the patronage of the Polish EU presidency.

ALDA will take part in the First World Forum of Local Development Agencies “Territory, Economy and Governance: New Glances in Changing Times” on 5-7 October 2011 in Seville, Spain.

On 29 and 30 September, the second Summit of Heads of States on Eastern Partnership takes place in Warsaw, under the auspices of the EU Presidency. The Partnership and its results and failures will be assessed by the States of the EU and by the Partners Countries.

At its meeting in Brussels on 22 September 2011 the Board of the European Movement International (EMI) approved the application for full membership of ALDA.

“Municipal co-operation agreements: challenges and perspectives of democratic participation at local level in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, will be the main focus of the conference that will be held in Tuzla (BiH) on 7th and 8th of October 2011.

The Director of ALDA, Mrs Antonella Valmorbida, will attend the 4th edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum, on 6-8 October, 2011 in Bucharest, Romania.

ALDA and its Belarusian partners Lev Sapieha Foundation and the Belarusian Organisation Working Women (BOWW) are now officially starting the TANDEM project. The project starts with a call for mini grants and partnership projects for promoting sustainable development in Belarus.

The new perspectives of cooperation between Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (I) and Montenegro were discussed at a forum held in Cattaro (MNE) on 16th of September.

The steering committee regarding the cooperation between Normandy and the Republic of North Macedonia was held from September 12 to 15 in Ohrid.

On September 13, the Agency for Legislative Initiatives held the Conference “Strengthening cooperation between the Authorities and the public at the local level: experience of the regions” in Kyiv.

Speech of Mrs Antonella Valmorbida, Co- Chair of the Steering Committee of Civil Society Forum for Eastern Partnership and Director of the Association of the Local Democracy Agencies at the first session of the CORLEAP conference in Poznan.

Macedonian and French stakeholders will meet in Ohrid from 12 to 15 September in order to discuss the programme for decentralised cooperation between the Region Lower Normandy and Republic of North Macedonia.

The Coalition of Youth Organizations SEGA in cooperation with House of Europe of Caen (France), in Strumica organised a seminar on “European priorities and local youth needs in the youth field” on August 19 and 20.

The National Association of Towns and Regions of Art and History and tows with protected areas in cooperation with the Regional Council of Lower-Normandy, will organise a regional conference in order to discuss the tools for protection and development of the heritage.

Coalition of Youth Organisations – SEGA in cooperation with Europe House of Caen (France) organise a seminar on “European priorities and local youth needs in the youth field.” in the hotel Sirius – Strumica

UniCredit Foundation, in collaboration with the European Network of Civil Society Leaders Euclid Network and Project Ahead has launched an international competition entitled “Social Innovation for Naples”, targeting social innovators from across the world.

Young participants from Croatia, France, Italy, Malta, the Republic of North Macedonia and Romania took part in the summer school “Get involved. Participate for Europe and your Town”.

On July 13 and 14 a preparatory partner meeting for LDA Armenia took place in Yerevan to discuss the establishment of an LDA in Armenia.