The President of the Government will chair the General Assembly of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Region of Europe (CPMR), which takes place in Italy on November 5 and 6. It will be attended by Italian Prime Minister, Mateo Renzi, European Commissioner, Christos Stylianides, and Vice-President of European Parliament, Antonio Tajani.

 This will be the 43rd general meeting of this interregional cooperation body, led by Vasco Cordeiro since September 2014; it consists of 150 Regions from 28 Member-States, encompassing nearly 200 million European citizens.

 The mission of CPRM is to defend the interests of its members within national and European institutions, through the promotion of territorial cohesion and regional power in Europe as well as through the reinforcement of the peripheral and maritime dimension of the European Union.

 Accordingly, this body has conducted extensive efforts of policy development and influence with EU institutions, especially with regard to Cohesion Policies, Integrated Maritime Policy, Transport Policy and Macro-regional strategies.

 The Annual General Assembly of CPMR, to be held in the city of Florence, will be attended by 300 delegates, including 35 Presidents of European Regions and 95 elected officials from 85 Member Regions.

 The agenda includes 10 sessions focused on issues such as the migrant crisis in Europe, transport and accessibility, the post-2020 Cohesion Policy, the Integrated Maritime, and the issues of Energy and Climate in preparation for the UN Conference on Climate 2015.

 Vasco Cordeiro will speak at the opening session, to be held on November 5, along with Enrico Rossi, President of Tuscany, and Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Parliament, at a panel that also features the participation, via video conferencing, of Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

 The event also counts on the participation of Italian Prime Minister, Mateo Renzi, who will speak at the opening works on November 6, and representatives of the European Commission, including the Commissioner responsible for humanitarian aid and crisis management, Christos Stylianides, speaker at panel on the child migration, and Mikel Landabaso, the official responsible for Outermost Regions at the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy.

 The President of the Government will also lead the debate on the final declaration of the meeting of CPMR, a memorandum that will convey the concerns and ambitions of the Peripheral and Maritime Regions of Europe to European institutions and the members of European Commission and Parliament.