National
Development Agency

Prime Minister Mr Gordon Bajnai presented the closing speech at the event held at the Open Air Museum in Szentendre.

The Government nominated the 33 most disadvantaged regions in autumn 2007 on the basis of economic, social and infrastructure indicators and made a decision on the need to develop these regions with the help of a complex programme. Hungary experiences numerous socio-economic processes that have a negative impact on the most disadvantaged regions and social groups where the level of employment in international comparison is particularly low, education is not competitive and the indebtedness of the population is alarmingly increasing. These processes hit the Roma population particularly harshly, which also leads to segregation and discrimination.

The programme aimed at developing these regions and allocated a total framework of 96.9 billion HUF from the New Hungary Development Plan (NHDP) will soon come to fruition. The 33 concerned micro-regions had to submit finalised complex project packages on the use of funding earmarked according to micro-region by the end of January; which proposals have since been appraised. In the next step, the National Development Agency (NDA) will, on the basis of the specifications of the project concepts, announce calls for applications specifically targeting these micro-regions, which implies that the concerned regions will be able to submit detailed project concepts without the likelihood of encountering competition.     
The conference presented the opportunity to summarise experiences gained during the course of designing complex development programmes, discuss proposals put forth in connection with regulations required in specific development areas and present concrete projects considered good practice.

Representatives from the most disadvantaged micro-regions, experts taking part in planning, managing authorities, ministries, representatives of regional development agencies and councils, as well as the Micro-Regional Coordination Network and non-profit organisations attended the conference.

Mr Ádám Kullmann, head of the most disadvantaged regions programme, held a presentation at the conference and, among others, highlighted that "most disadvantaged regions are not in a disadvantaged situation because they receive little EU funding, but due to their geographic, economic and social situation. Consequently, we do not change this disadvantaged status simply by providing more funding, but by fathoming it in accordance with the regulatory operating environment."

At the conference, Mrs Lavaj, Éve Dóka Mayor of Bátonyterenye summarised the opportunities offered by the most disadvantaged regions programme as follows: "We would like to implement programmes that benefit the development of the region, which is why we explicitly prioritise projects supporting job creation and education and training. We are very happy and optimistic, since it would be difficult to development our micro-region without these opportunities."

Prime Minister Mr Gordon Bajnai presented the closing speech at the conference and said that one of the key objectives of the crisis management programme is to reduce social tensions in order to prevent the economic crisis from evolving into a social crisis and avoid marginalisation. This is the principle that underlies the prioritised funding of the most disadvantaged regions and with the help of which uncertainty may transform into possibility and efforts made to get through things may evolve into real development.   

The most disadvantaged regions local products EXPO organised for the first time accompanied the conference with the aim of drawing attention to the inherent values of micro-regions. The main characteristic of the products and services on show at the EXPO was that they were manufactured from local raw materials by local people and by using traditional regional knowledge and skills. Folk art products, wines, bio-food products, brochures presenting the micro-regions, spirits brewed on the spot, local mineral water and products characteristic of the micro-regions were on show at the EXPO.