The morning saw presentations by European Commission DGs DEVCO, GROW and NEAR as well as the European Investment Bank, focussing on policies for the sector, opportunities for consultancies and SMEs, and blending. A session focused specifically on the most recent updates to PRAG (now PRAG 2016) while a panel of companies shared their experiences and lessons learnt.
As for previous editions, in the afternoon business to business meetings among companies were organised, giving operators the opportunity to discuss opportunities and consortia. Information desks with representatives from DEVCO, the EIB and the Executive Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises (EASME) were also present, enabling attendees to ask individual questions on procedures and programmes.
The next WEBINAR will focus on the changes introduced in the latest version of the “Practical Guide (PRAG) for Procurement and Grants for European Union external actions” and the implications for European companies. It will take place ONLINE on Thursday, November 26, 2020.
The new Practical Guide (PRAG) applicable as of 1 August 2020 introduces some changes that may impact the way of European companies participate in tenders and call for proposals. The webinar will take place on 26th November from 15H00 to 16:00. Germany and Spain are the main organizing countries of the webinar and a significant number of Member states organizations co-organize the event. The platform will be Webex. For those companies that cannot access to the session the same day, we plan to record it in order to make it available on this web page.
In recent years, the implementation of the budget that the European Union allocates to third countries has experienced what could be regarded as a revolution. Indeed, up to five years ago most of the so called External Action budget was managed directly by the European Commission and the recipient countries’ authorities. Nowadays, the implementation of a large chunk of that financial envelope is delegated to a wide variety of actors, such as Member States development agencies, International Financial Institutions and non-profit making organisations