The DG Regio brought together in Brussels all the coordinators of the twelve partnerships as well as representatives of the EU Trio Presidencies (NL, SK, MT) and Secretariat of the Urban Agenda to discus the expected results from the Partnerships as well as the lessons learnt from the four existing partnerships.

Together with Estonia and Oulu Sofia will develop the Partnership orientation paper that will be discussed with the other partners who recently joined in February during the kickoff meeting and submitted to EC for further validation.

Based on the orientation paper the partnership will develop action plan with recommendation in three areas:
                • Better regulation: how to improve EU legislation so that it better reflects urban needs, practices and responsibilities ?
                • Better use of financial instruments: how to ensure better access to and utilisation of European funds by urban areas?
                • Better knowledge exchange: How to improve the EU urban knowledge base and stimulate the sharing of best practices and cooperation between urban areas?