4^th H2020 Steering Group meeting marks the way ahead

The Horizon 2020 Steering Group held its 4^th meeting in Amman Jordan (22-23 February 2011). Representatives of Jordan, member countries of the programme, regional stakeholders and the European commission met to review the progress of the Horizon 2020 components - investment; monitoring, review and research; capacity building - financed mainly by ENPI projects. The state of play with the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) was also discussed.

The H2020 Pollution Reduction Sub-Group and the MeHSIP-PPIF

Preparation of investment projects

Project support is speeding up as two feasibility studies are currently being prepared in Lebanon and Tunisia, while the pre-feasibility studies for another three potential investment projects in Egypt are being finalised. At the same time, there are ongoing discussions in the partner countries over priority investment projects that still seek funding. (read more here)

New Website launched

The MeHSIP-PPIF’s new web site (www.mehsip-ppif.eu) provides an interactive environment for  an up-to-date overview of the Horizon 2020 Project List as well as the Pipelines. As the site is currently on a trial period, we welcome your comments here. You can also access it through www.h2020.net 

New Brochure published

To download the MeHSIP-PPIF new brochure click here.

Elaboration of a Hot Spot Inventory for the West Balkans and Turkey under Horizon 2020

Hot Spot Inventory heating up

The Horizon 2020 study on a Hot Spot inventory for the West Balkans and Turkey, which started in September 2010, has already begun to produce results. Missions have taken place to all countries involved,  and all the projects listed in the 2005 National Action Plans have been updated. 85% of the Hot Spots in the field of solid waste and waste water have already secured funding and are in various stages of progress, with some already completed. (Read more here)

The H2020 Capacity Building Sub Group and the CB/MEP

8+1 workshops: Buliding Capacity across the Mediterranean

Since January 2011, eight national capacity building events have already taken place in Albania, Croatia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Montenegro, Morocco and Turkey under the various thematic priority areas of Horizon 2020.  Moreover, a regional workshop on Wastewater Treatment and Reuse took place in Athens involving professionals from more than 10 countries. Read more on these trainings and on the upcoming ones at www.h2020.net

Linking up with other ENPI South Regional Projects on Water

A Coordination meeting of ENPI South Regional water related project leaders took place in Brussels on March 29th, 2011. Apart from the H2020 investment, capacity building and monitoring components there was the newly launched Sustainable Water Integrated Management - Support Mechanism (SWIM-SM) and the Mediterranean EU Water Inititiative (MedEUWI). Efforts were made to map the gaps, synergies and potential joint activities across these projects.

The H2020 Review, Monitoring and Research (RMR) Sub Group and the ENPI/SEIS

2nd Meeting of the RMR Sub Group: reporting progress at every step

More than 40 experts from the Southern Mediterranean and the West Balkans gathered for the second meeting of the RMR Sub Group in Copenhagen in March.  The meeting reviewed the most recent developments of the H2020 Initiative, the results of the ENPI-SEIS consultation meeting in November 2010, and also of the research projects and activities in the Mediterranean. Organised around breakout groups, the sub-group discussed ways to develop a regular reporting process to monitor environmental progress on "depolluting the Mediterranean" with a particular focus on the three H2020 priority issues of urban waste water, municipal waste and industrial emissions. By the end of the meeting a collective view of the next steps to be taken had been developed. (Read more here)

ENPI-SEIS country visits

The first round of ENPI-SEIS country visits started in early April with a two-day mission to Algeria on 6-7 April. Other planned missions in the coming period are to: Jordan (27-28 April), Egypt (3-4 May) and the Palestinian Authority (11-12 May). More information available here.