On July 18, 2023, Mr. Alessandro Perelli, ALDA Vice-President and representative of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in the Governing Board, together with Mrs. Antonella Valmorbida, ALDA Secretary General, and Ms. Veronica Vidotto, ALDA Membership Officer, went to Trieste (Italy) to meet with the President of the Autonomous Region of FVG, Mr. Massimiliano Fedriga, and the Municipality of Trieste.
The Region Friuli Venezia Giulia has a longstanding partnership with ALDA and finances three Local Democracy Agencies. On the working table together, the key focus was on:
- the relevance for the Region concerning the work in the Western Balkans for their historical, economic and cultural relations, linked to the need to cooperate for EU membership;
- ALDA’s Flagship Initiative in Ukraine: regarding this, the region FVG is committed to support Ukraine and aligned with the Italian Ministry of Entreprises and Made in Italy who sees the harbour of Trieste as the access to the Mediterranean for Ukraine. The President expressed the interest of the Region in working together for the opening of LDA Odesa;
- the structured relation within the Italian and European institutions: FVG is interested in the efforts of ALDA to develop structured relations with the Italian institutional framework. Since 2021, Mr. Fedriga has been president of the Conference of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces, whose strengthened role can be a platform for ALDA to involve Italian regions and to work at intra-regional level.
Mr. Fedriga welcomed ALDA’s work and initiatives, and the Association is looking forward to continuing this valuable collaboration and working further on the territorial and local approach as the foundation of democracy and development.
The Association is looking forward to continuing this valuable collaboration and working further on the territorial and local approach as the foundation of democracy and development
During the second part of the day, the ALDA team met with the Municipality of Trieste, namely with Ms. Serena Tonel, Deputy Mayor of Trieste, and Ms. Beatrice Micovilovich, in charge of urban planning and programmes.
Trieste has had a twinning program with the Municipality of Mykolaiv for many years, which was strengthened with the outbreak of war in Ukraine, with the City of Trieste providing regular humanitarian aid.
ALDA will follow-up on this meeting, getting in touch with Mykolaiv Municipality and working with the partnership revolving around the opening of a new LDA in Ukraine.