Registration & Coffee

Welcoming Statements

Mr. Aart de Geus
Deputy Secretary General, OECD and

Ms. Mari Kiviniemi (Chair) Minister of Public Administration & Local Government, Finland

Regions, National Objectives and Global Challenges

Global challenges (economic crisis, climate change, ageing, migration) require decisive policy action and regional policy can play an important role.

• What is the role of regional policies in dealing with the economic crisis?
• What policy lessons can be drawn from past and current regional policies in promoting growth?
• How can regional policy make a more significant contribution to addressing long-term global challenges, including global efforts to deal with climate change?

Introductory remarks:

• Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy, European Commission
• Makoto Taketoshi, Vice-Minister, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Japan   Presentation PDF, 1.28 MB
• Hubert Falco, Secretary of State for Spatial Planning, France
• Anthony Albanese, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Australia

* A coffee break will take place at approximately 11:00.

Lunch

Unlocking Regional Growth: Innovation and Public Goods 

Globalisation has increased pressure on regions to exploit their own competitive advantages. To achieve this, they need well-functioning innovation systems and effective delivery of high quality public goods and services.
 
• What is the policy experience in fostering regional innovation? What policy tools are the most effective?
• Which are the public goods and services essential to help regions grow? How can we ensure that the private sector plays a useful role in providing those?
• Does an attractive living environment help growth? What are policy makers’ experiences with using environmental policies to generate economic growth and jobs?

Introductory remarks:

• Elena Salgado Méndez, Minister of Public Administration, Spain
• Claudio Scajola, Minister of Economic Development, Italy
• Ebrahim Rasool, Advisor to the President, South Africa

Coffee Break

Session III

Mobilising Actors and Capacities for Regional Development

Unlocking regional potential requires close collaboration among actors and capacity building at all levels. Effective leadership is crucial for regional development.

• What has been done to build local and regional capacities in order to ensure high quality policy delivery?
• What has been done to facilitate policymaking across administrative boundaries (urban-rural linkages, cross-border collaboration, etc.)? What are the successful mechanisms to bring together governments and non-governmental actors? Does it work differently in cities than in rural areas?
• What has been done to facilitate horizontal co operation within the central government? What policy lessons have been learnt? 

Introductory remarks:

• Iain Wright, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, United Kingdom
• Geddel Vieira Lima, Minister of National Integrity, Ministry of National Integration,  Brazil
• Cyril Svoboda, Minister for Regional Development, Czech Republic
• Gustavo Merino, Vice-Minister for Prospective, Planning and Evaluation, Mexico

TDPC Chair, Mr. Mark Drabenstott
Chair of Ministerial, Ms. Mari Kiviniemi
OECD Secretary-General, Mr. Angel Gurría