Mr. François Maitia, Vice president of the Conseil Régional dAquitaine and responsible for the agriculture and fishery and the transnational cooperation, was the Chairman of this meeting. During this workshop opened by the chairman, Mr. Maitia, about forty partners from Aquitaine, Navarre, Spanish Bask Country, Castilla y Léon, Galicia , Portugal, Ireland and Finland, were able to follow the presentations showing the complexity of the European institutions, and the difficulty for the stakeholders of the forest wood paper sector to part in the interregional cooperation:
- Presentation of the regions of Knowledge, European tool for the cooperation between regional financiers, by Mr. Vigne from INNOVALIS Aquitaine,
- Presentation of the future of the INTERREG programme, by Mr. Arrivé from the Conseil Regional dAquitaine,
- Presentation of the cooperation network for the sustainable forest management: IEFC, by Christophe Orazio, director,
- Presentation of the cooperation network for the research in wood and furniture INNOVAWOOD, by Mr. Vernois, director of the CTBA,
- Presentation of the opportunities and priorities for funding within the framework of the future programme for the research which will start in 2007, by mr. Lindher from the European Forest Institute,
- Presentation of the technological platform of the forest wood cluster, by Mr. Lindher and the proposals done for the research and development in forest
To conclude, Mr. Carnus (INRA) and Mr. Maitia proposed two initiatives, approved by the participants, concerning on one hand the networks of R&D Forest Wood in the Atlantic Arc, gathering trhe scientific community, professionals and the concerned regions (ROKFOR initiative, Region of Knowledge FORET) and on the other hand the study of a future interregional project concerning the competitiveness of the Forest Wood chains related with the sustainable development of the regions.