A tightly packed schedule was set for Thursday 24th of September, as Greek project promoters, partners and representatives from the government gathered at The American School of Classical Studies at Athens. The agenda was to inform about management, monitoring and control of the 50 projects that have been selected for the 2004-2009 EEA financing period.
No time to loose
Norwegian ambassador, Mr Sverre Stub, was the second speaker and set the mood by talking about some of the successful things that have been built with EEA funding since 1994.
As the day went on, the listeners were given useful information about every step in the process from being selected to full implementation. However, it was pointed out by several that there is no time to loose if the projects are to be completed and fully financed by April 30th 2011.
Norwegian EEA partners were invited to a seminar at the Embassy. From left: Leif Sigurd Hafskjold (SINTEF), Espen Govasmark (BIOFORSK), Svein Hansen (Furgo-Oceanor), Thomas Brox Røst FORTH/NTNU), Merete Ludvigsen (The Norwegian Institute at Athens), Vibeke Nenseth (Institute of Transport Economics), Marie Osnes (FMO country officer).
Norwegian workshop
On Friday 25th the Embassy held it’s own workshop for the Norwegian partners. After opening remarks from Ambassador Stub, First Secretary Knut-Are Okstad talked about how the Embassy can assist the Norwegian partners. Ms. Angela Iliadis from KPMG spoke about how to do business in Greece. Monitoring agent from the 1999-2003 period, Mr George Tziallas, described the various obstacles one can encounter, while Mr. Svein Hansen of Oceanor told about his experiences from the last two EEA Grant periods and the successful projects “Poseidon I” and “Poseidon II”.
At the lunch that followed at the ambassador’s residence, some of the Norwegians had the chance to meet their Greek partner. Having met face to face is always an advantage when working together.
“All in all two important days in working towards successful implementations”, said Ambassador Stub.