Study for the organization of entrepreneurship in The Via Egnatia Cultural Route

An agreement was signed on this day the 11th of December 2018 between DIAZOMA and ETAM S.A. awarding the latter with the study for the “Organization of the participation of the local economy of Easter Macedonia and Thrace in the Via Egnatia Cultural Route.”
The “Via Egnatia Cultural Route” is an Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI) Program designed by the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace within the framework of the Regional Operational Program 2014-2020. 55.2 million euro have been allocated for its implementation. The aforementioned agreement falls within the Memorandum of Cooperation signed between DIAZOMA and the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace on 15/01/2018, whereby DIAZOMA shall contribute its know-how to the realization of the “Via Egnatia Cultural Route” Program.
A fundamental stage in the realization of the Via Egnatia Cultural Route is its operational partnership with local entrepreneurship. “We envision a Thracian Riviera and the study will be geared to this end,” stated ETAM S.A. managing director Mr. Drakonakis, stressing that the program’s success rests on the consent and participation of both institutional bodies and local entrepreneurship.
The subject of the study is the precise planning of a strategy for the qualitative participation of the enterprises to be included in the Cultural Route and includes the following:
I. Identifying the eligible business sectors or facilities that will join the Route and securing the participation of a critical mass of enterprises for the prompt implementation of a Local Quality Pact.
II. Identifying and submitting substantiated recommendations of enterprises producing local products per industry that are deemed to be suitable in principle as the kind of enterprise eligible to participate in the route, as well as a record of producers proposed.
III. Investigating and drafting a proposal for the body to be responsible for the operation of the Route. Description of the structure, organization, operation and necessary staffing of this body.
IV. Recording—Proposing—Substantiating the specifications/criteria for the enterprises and general facilities of Paragraph II and the products and enterprises of Paragraph III, so that they may participate in the Local Quality Pact.
V. A Sample Local Quality Pact for businesses and facilities and a proposal for the legal form of the pact, as well as the legal form of their cooperation with the proposed body responsible for the Route’s operation-management (Paragraph IV)
VI. Description of the system/methodology for the verification/examination of quality and maintenance/renewal the participation concerned.
The project shall be completed within six months and the total remuneration of the awardee shall be to the amount of 15,000 euro (excluding VAT). The funding shall be assumed by the National Bank of Greece, a Corporate Member of the Association and consistent partner of Diazoma for many years.

A three-member committee has been appointed to take delivery of the study, comprised of two representatives of the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace and a representative of Diazoma. Diazoma shall be represented by Mr. Yiannis Laskarakis, civil engineer and founding member of the Association, deputized by Mrs. Artemis Tsolakis, an administrator at the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace and member of the DIAZOMA Board of Directors, who gladly agreed to assist the researchers during the development of this great study, which has the potential to contribute to the transformation of the Region into a cultural and economic center.