He was supported on his views by Austrian Science Minister Elisabeth Gehrer and all delegates present.More than just information exchange, the Steering Platform aims to be a clearing house for ideas and joint activities, intensifying the work already underway since the 2003 EU-Balkan Countries Action Plan in Science and Technology. The Steering Platform aims at going beyond the 7th European Framework Programme for RTD (FP7) by creating synergies with other stakeholders e.g. the Pre-accession Funds (IPA). Therefore Commissioner Potočnik called on the representatives of the Western Balkan countries as well as on the Member States to actively involve themselves in this process. Regarding contextual topics of mutual interest, a lot of good ideas came up. While some of them require discussion in projects such as SEE-ERA.NET or ERA Westbalkan, others are well positioned to be taken up by the Steering Platform, especially those of a more political and strategic nature. In the working sessions, a majority of participants concluded that it was time to reflect on the working modalities of the Platform and agreed that a mission statement and a work plan for the Steering Platform are required. The discussion on the mission statement is initiated in the article on the next page. (ed)
Article published in the eJournal summer 06.

Link to information regarding the launch as published on CORDIS: /news/105.html
Link to a transcript of Mr. Potočnik's speech: /doc/106.html