Welcome Statement

1

• Welcome Statement
• Integrative Approaches Towards Sustainability
  (SHARING)
• Jurmala (Latvia), 11-14 May 2005
• Pierre Valette
• Acting Director, Directorate I, DG RESEARCH,
  European Commission
• The conference in Jurmala this year comes at a
  very appropriate time.
• The Commission has presented its proposal for
  the 7th Framework Programme which introduces new
  elements and aims at considerably increasing the
  budget for research on a European level.
  Sustainable development is the prevailing
  objective and its principle cuts across the whole
  programme.
• In addition, environmental research has been
  broadened and strengthened. The structure of the
  new Framework Programme for this area reflects
  the need for a more integrated approach where all
  three pillars of sustainable development are
  taken into the account in our scientific research
  and policy considerations.
• The Commission services are currently
  elaborating the specific programmes per area with
  a view to finalising them by the end of June
  2005.
• Therefore, the findings from this conference
  could produce a valuable input for the
  preparation of the programmes and we welcome this
  initiative