On 22 November 2010, the municipality of Monfalcone, with the support of the Central European Initiative, hosted the kick-off meeting of the ADRIA A Project.
ADRIA A - Accessibility and Development for the Re-launch of the Inner Adriatic Area - is funded under the Cross-border cooperation programme Italy – Slovenia and aims at contributing to the accessibility and transport reorganisation in the entire cross-border area, in order to form an integrated Italian – Slovene metropolitan transport area.
The event took place in Monfalcone and brought together all 27 partners, working under the guidance of the CEI as Lead Partner, as well as regional authorities, high-level ministerial representatives, Members of the European Parliament and relevant stakeholders.
The gathering was opened by ADRIA A Project Manager, Mr. Carlo Fortuna from the CEI, who briefly described the main goals of the project.
He stressed the importance of "creating an integrated transport system in the Northern Adriatic area, which will integrate and connect the 3 main airports, 2 harbours, and several coastal cities in Italy and Slovenia. ADRIA A foresees the creation of a macro regional cross-border metropolitan ring that will ensure the creation of a critical mass, thus representing the gate of the Central Europe".
Mr. Riccardo Riccardi, Regional Councillor for transport, stated that "ADRIA A is a challenge that will re-write a new chapter for this area: The alliance between Italy and Slovenia will definitely represent a successful impulse to an area that risks being emarginated”.
The representative of the Slovene Ministry of Transport, Mr. Bogomir Černe, announced future plans to jointly start the design activities of the railway line between Trieste and Koper in cooperation with the Friuli Venezia Giulia region and the Italian Ministry of Transport. This will have a massive impact on the economic and touristic value of the two cities. Moreover, the cancellation of the missing link will ensure better mobility of the inhabitants of this area. The ADRIA A kick-off meeting also saw the participation of two euro parliamentarians, Mr. Antonio Cancian and Ms. Debora Serracchiani who showed great enthusiasm for this important project, and who both stressed the importance of team work in European projects.
These speeches were followed by the speeches of the previous mayor of Nova Gorica, Mr. Brulc, and the ministerial representatives of the two countries, Mr. Angelini for the Italian Ministry of Environment and Ms. Šolar for the Slovene Ministry of Environment. The second part of the event was dedicated to the first Steering Committee and to the institution of the Forum of cross-border towns. This Forum will focus on the joint identification of infrastructural priorities and on the creation of an action plan for a wide area. As Mr. Pizzolitto, Mayor of Monfalcone reminded, ‘the Forum is the basis for dialogue and cooperation between several Italian and Slovene bodies’. The kick-off meeting was an extremely positive moment that provided to all the project partners an overview on the main objectives and an update outline on the different activities comprised in the project.