The international LAG Forum was held in Krško, Slovenia on Thursday and Saturday (30. 9. and 2. 10. 2021) 

The international LAG Forum was held in Krško, Slovenia on Thursday and Saturday (30. 9. and 2. 10. 2021) 

The 30 year celebration started with three workshops on Thursday, 30. 9. 2021: “The relevance of the European Regional Development Fund in the development of local incentives”, “Implementation of projects that address social issues and their relation the European Social Fund” and “Smart Villages and the bottom-up approach”.

The day was concluded with the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the LEADER program in the EU. The event was visited from Marion Eckardt, the ELARD President, and Jože Podgoršek PhD, Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Food of the Republic of Slovenia as well as MEP Mr Franc Bogovic and MEP Ms Elsi Katainen.

Mr Goran Soster was honoured for the many years he has invested in time, engagement and competence for the Slovenian National Rural Network, contributing to making rural Slovenia a bettter place to live.

Saturday featured the presentation of good practices in the field of Smart villages. The morning session hosted the presentations of successful good practices from Finland (Finland Rural 21 village) and Croatia (Green energy cooperative Križevci), which was followed up by a field trip to Lisca in Sevnica as a presentation of a good practice in the area of LAG Posavje, Slovenia.

The international LAG Forum was organized by the Slovenian Rural Development Network with partners: LAG Posavje and the Municipality of Krško, the European LEADER Association for Rural Development, LEADER Network Croatia, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food and the Slovenian National Rural Network.