Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg will today take part in an international conference “Challenges and Opportunities for Future EU Budget – Friends of the Cohesion Policy”, in Bucharest.

The conference will discuss cohesion policy as a major engine for economic growth and new job openings and the goals of the next long-term financial framework”.

States that form the Friends of the Cohesion Policy group include Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Greece, Estonia, Romania, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Hungary.

These states want to preserve some substantial resources in the cohesion policy of the European Union for the 2014-20 financial years.

European Commission President Jose Barroso, will also attend. The Romanian government is financing this conference.

The European Union’s cohesion policy is focused on reducing the economic and social disparities between regions through the use of financial instruments that would help implement development goals.

The policy’s architecture is structured into three goals – convergence, regional competitiveness and labour force, and European territorial cooperation. There are also three financial instruments – the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund.

The Territorial Cooperation Goal supports transnational, cross-border, and inter-regional cooperation between all European states.

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