The first Permanent Committee meeting under Austrian Presidency concluded today in Bolzano/Bozen. Following the Presidency programme and the Multiannual Work Programmethe umbrella topic of the meeting was “focusing on people and culture” and many agenda items were addressing the population of the Alps; among them the follow up on the “Reading mountains festival” and the Reports on the state of the Alps as well as the Young Academics Award organized by the Permanent Secretariat and the project “Living together in the Alps”, by observer organizations. Furthermore the idea of an Alpine ticket that was born out of an initiative during the AlpWeek was further discussed. At the meeting a small celebration was organized for the two observer organizations that celebrate their 20th birthday this year: Alliance in the Alps and Alpine Town of the Year. The Permanent Committee meeting also hosted special guests; the representatives of the Youth Parliament to the Alpine Convention that presented the resolutions on the topic Demographic changes in the Alps elaborated last week.
The president of the Permanent Committee, Mr Ewald Galle, was content with the outcomes of the meeting: “it has been a long time since Austrian’s last presidency of the Alpine Convention in 2006. I am happy that the last two days of meetings went well and that our Contracting Parties are positively engaged in making the Alpine Convention ‘work’ and bringing it close to the people.”
