Joint Press Release

On 10 and 11 May 2004 the TRUST kick-off meeting took place in Rotterdam. Aim of the meeting was to get the proposed TRUST organisation structure accepted. In order to get this done a number of decisions had to be taken. Therefore the participation of governors, higher management and professional staff from the five partners was required.

The TRUST logo and the website design were easily accepted. TRUST programme overall communication and the EU regulations that must be respected, were discussed.

In order to get an insight in the shared problems where partners can provide added value to each other, satellite sessions were set up to discuss the three major themes in the programme: Multifunctional use of water storage, Integrated water management, and Public and private participation. Contact persons for each theme group were identified.

Finance was discussed in a separate session with all the responsible financial representatives. The processing of the payment claims was explained. The Financial Handbook TRUST, in which all procedures are described and explained, was discussed at great length with the support of Mrs. Sonja Maurus, Finance Officer of the NWE Programme Secretariat.

The Kick-off meeting was concluded, in a formal setting in which the Joint Convention was signed by the Official Representative of each partner.