16 Nov The EGTC’s Rio Minho and Guadiana exchange experiences in Ayamonte on the promotion of international rivers and study synergies for the joint collection of cross-border funds

The EGTC Rio Minho and the EGTC Eurocidade do Guadiana, made up of the Spanish municipality of Ayamonte (Huelva) and the Portuguese municipalities of Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo Antonio, met in Ayamonte to exchange experiences on international river promotion projects as well as to study synergies between both groups for the joint collection of cross-border funds for the respective territories.

The director of the EGTC Rio Minho, Uxío Benítez, and member of the EGTC Eurocidade do Guadiana and mayoress of Ayamonte, Natalia Santos, interviewed today with their technical teams to address this issue, emphasizing the great coincidences of the two groups: both EGTC’s are located in territories around international rivers, they have a central economic activity such as fishing that needs improved management, they also have great tourism potential and, moreover, today they are the most populated border stretches with the largest dynamism of the entire Iberian Peninsula.

In the working meeting, several of the projects that both EGTC’s are developing individually were put on the table and some ideas were also outlined about the joint projects that could have a future.

Likewise, the possibility of jointly opting for funds for the environmental improvement of both river basins, which currently have major problems and need urgent resources and actions, and of launching coordinated river tourism proposals was also studied.

It was also evaluated to develop initiatives that would lead to an improvement of co-governance in fisheries management, with the Rio Minho contributing its experience in this regard.

Meetings like this are fundamental for the EGTC Rio Minho as they allow networking with other entities (whether EGTC’s or of another type) that manage cross-border rivers in other European territories. In the same line of work, the Rio Minho grouping recently held a joint working day with the EGTC GO, a cross-border territory between Slovenia and Italy that has the Soča river as its central axis.