9th Annual Conference and General Assembly

The Network of Cities "SUSTAINABLE CITY" held its 9th Annual Conference and General Assembly at Serafio of the Municipality of Athens on 17 December 2024 with the main topic "SUSTAINABLE CITY in the New Programming Period". On the occasion of a successful year for its activities, SUSTAINABLE CITY invited to the event all its member municipalities, important representatives of the government, as well as representatives of other relevant bodies. 

The President of the Network and Secretary General of KEDE, Mr. Dimitrios Kafantaris, welcomed the attendees, presenting the evolution of the Network's activities to date and underlining the importance of networking for the Municipalities: "We have implemented more than 18 European programmes, we have submitted more than 60 European proposals and we have entered into many programme contracts with our municipalities. The more we are, the more we claim".

The host Mayor of Athens, Mr. Haris Doukas, also made a welcome speech. Despite the fact that the Municipality of Athens is one of the newest members of the Network, the relationship between the two entities is well established, as they cooperate through the Athens Development Authority in the implementation of important projects and actions, such as the Energy Poverty Alleviation Office

The event was attended by the Minister of State, Mr Makis Voridis, the Minister of Interior, Mr Theodoros Livanios, the Secretary General of Local Government and Decentralisation, Mr Savvas Hionidis, the Secretary General of Research and Innovation, Mr Tasos Gaitanis, and the Secretary General of Forests, Mr Efstathios Stathopoulos.

The event was composed of two panels, moderated by the Director General of SUSTAINABLE CITY and CEO of the Development agency of Athens, Mr. Ioannis Georgizas, and the Head of Operations and Projects of Sustainable City, Ms. Theodora Andrinopoulou.
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​The first panel of speakers included the Mayor of Thermo, Mr. Spyridon Konstantaras, the Mayor of Messini, Mr. Georgios Athanasopoulos, the Mayor of Pella, Mr. Eustathios Fountoukidis, the Mayor of Chalki, Mr. Angelos Fragakis and the President of the City council of Karpathos, Mr. Komninos Sakellis, presenting the projects that their municipalities are implementing in cooperation with SUSTAINABLE CITY. 

Then, the European Programmes team, presented the most important ongoing and completed European projects of the Network. More specifically, emphasis was given to the projects POWERPOOR, POWERYOUTH, Espresso, ESCALATE, ENERGATE, RISKADAPT, Living Streets, CLIMRES, SETOFF, HyPro4ST, THESEUS and ENVESOME. The Executive Director of the Sustainable Energy Finance Association (SEFA), Ms. Angeliki Konstantinoupoulou, also participated in the panel, presenting the CROSSFIT project.

Then, reference was made to Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) by the lawyer, Mrs.Efi Lyristi, who highlighted their usefulness as financing tools for Municipalities, while the importance of international diplomacy of cities was also highlighted by the lawyer - internationalist and former Deputy Mayor of Athens, Mr. Alexandros Montiano, and innovation through the use of photovoltaic roofs in outdoor parking spaces by the Commercial Director of PROFELM, Mr. Vasilios Apostolopoulos.
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The general coordination of the event was carried out by the Journalist, Mrs. Vicky Katehaki.

The Conference was concluded with the General Assembly of SUSTAINABLE CITY, where the acceptance of the six new member municipalities (Agia, Athens, Alexandroupolis, Meteora, Pogoni and Serifos) took place and the objectives for the new programming period were discussed. In this way, participants were given the opportunity to learn about the support that SUSTAINABLE CITY can offer them, as well as the opportunities for cooperation that can lead our Municipalities to a better and more sustainable tomorrow.

PRESS RELEASE