3rd stakeholder meeting in the region of Central Macedonia

The 3rd Regional Stakeholders' Group (RSG) Meeting of the MILEstone (Migrants' Integration in Local Economies) project, which is co-financed by the INTERREG EUROPE 2021-2027 Programme, took place online on Friday 28 June 2024.

The meeting was organized by the Regional Development Fund of Central Macedonia (project partner), in cooperation with the Region of Central Macedonia (collaborating Policy-Making Authority).

The “MILEstone” project aims to empower the public authorities of the participating regions to modify and promote their Strategies and Programs for promoting the integration of third country nationals into the labor market, to include better aspects of promoting entrepreneurship and further skills development (lifelong learning).

The corporate structure of the project includes a total of 10 partners, from 9 European countries and 3 cooperating Policy-Making Authorities (Region of Central Macedonia, Hogeland Municipality of the Netherlands and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies of Italy).

At the beginning of the 3rd Meeting, a brief overview of the progress of the project so far was made and the final version of the Baseline Study was presented. Then the challenges, opportunities and possible solutions regarding the integration of third country nationals into the labor market in the Central Macedonia Region were presented. Also, the members of the Regional Support Group were informed about the 3rd Thematic Seminar held in Linköping, Sweden on 11 & 12 June 2024, which had as its central theme the promotion of entrepreneurship and the creation of start-ups by third country nationals. Finally, there was a brief update on the methodology of the upcoming peer reviews which will start in October 2024 and will end in April 2025.