On the agenda for the 2 July 2008 session: Strategic direction and priorities for Mission Val de Loire for 2008-10; Site and landscape management plan; Status management.
The Territorial
Conference
The
Territorial conference
is
the principal forum for discussion among the authorities
responsible for the site and for debate on the major
strategic directions for the management of the
UNESCO
World
Heritage-listed
Loire
Valley
. This session was attended for the
first time by representatives of the federations of communes from
the inscribed site.
It is chaired collectively
by:
- Jean-Michel Bérard, Prefect
of the Centre Regional Authority and Coordinator of the Plan
Loire Grandeur Nature (a development programme marrying
individual security, environmental protection and economic
development),
- François Bonneau, President
of the Centre Regional Authority and of Mission Val de
Loire,
- Jacques Auxiette, President of
the Pays de la Loire Regional Authority, first Vice-President of
Mission Val de Loire.
Strategic direction
and priorities for
Mission
Val de Loire for
2008-10
In the
new interregional cooperation
protocol
signed in Chaumont on 3 June, the
Regional Presidents restated that the
Loire
is an underlying theme guiding
their partnership and placed the Mission Val de Loire mixed
interregional syndicate at the heart of their
cooperation-building toolbox.
Five years after the creation of
the
Mission
,
a new phase is proposed to ensure that World
Heritage-listing generates yet greater growth. We must strive to
ensure increased consumer awareness, consolidated attractiveness to
tourists, sustained economic growth and suitability for local
people. The importance of these challenges explains the major
involvement of executive members of these two Regional Authorities
in the
Mission
, and their desire to implement an
ambitious joint strategy.
The two Regional Authorities set
the following priorities for their joint tool, Mission Val de
Loire:
-
The claiming of inscription values as their own by the
people of the
Loire
Valley;
- Leadership shown to the actors and
authorities with responsibility for
the quality of and conservation of the inscribed
Loire
Valley
;
- Support for organisations
contributing to the
growing international reputation of the inscribed site,
particularly the Regional Authorities themselves.
In close collaboration with the
State, which is responsible for World Heritage status, the Centre
and Pays de la Loire Regional Authorities wanted to
involve the people of the
Loire
Valley
in an innovative project which will
boost regional identity and reputation.