The 5th OPEN DAYS-European Week of Regions and Cities will be held between 8 and 11 October 2007 in Brussels for about 5,000 expected regional policy experts and practitioners. Organised by the Committee of the Regions, the European Commission's Regional Policy Directorate General and expected 100 regions, cities and other institutions and private partners from all over Europe, this year's headline is: "Making it happen: regions deliver growth and jobs". About 150 workshops and sessions will focus on the new generation of cohesion policy programmes, which will be implemented in the course of 2007 in all European regions. Between 2007 and 2013, the public and private funding made available through these programmes amounts to about EUR 500 billion.

The OPEN DAYS 2007 programme will be built around five sub-headlines:

(1) Attracting investors: Regions and cities show how it works;
(2) Proximity matters: Clusters and regional development;
(3) Spending it wisely: Public-private partnerships and financial engineering;
(4) Crossing borders: Networking and best practice supporting growth and jobs;
(5) Checking delivery: How the new programmes are implemented

In a special section of the programme, a series of workshops and seminars on the international dimension of regional policy will be held, involving authorities from third countries and international organisations.

Apart from the seminars and workshops, an "Investors Café" in the Committee of the Regions will provide for exhibitions, stands and networking opportunities around the themes of the event.

The month of October 2007 before and after the OPEN DAYS in Brussels, there will be also local events organised in cooperation with the participating regions, cities and the European Commission's representations and networks in the Member States.

To briefly clarify the concept and structure of this year's OPEN DAYS, we provide a short presentation.