It is an honour for the AIRF, the only global network of francophone regions, to be elected to the Vice-Presidency of ORU Fogar, of which it is a founding member.
As President of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (France), which currently leads the AIRF, and alongside my friend Abdessamad SEKKAL, President of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region, and from now on at the helm of the United Regions Organisation, I would like to assess today the road travelled since ORU’s creation and the road ahead of us.
Training, youth mobility, sustainable development, exchange of good practices, collaborations in emblematic events, promotion of new forms of cooperating, ensuring consistency between our networks, cross-development of our economic relations… we have a great deal to do together!
Faced with these challenges, Regions appear to be more than ever the level of the future: powerful with sometimes a similar size to that of a State, close to their citizens thanks to their actions and projects on the ground, open to the world thanks to the increasingly important exchanges and cooperation projects, Regions offer the flexibility and dynamism that are needed.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Regions have an important role to play. I know we share this belief. Those of us engaged with ORU Fogar are willing to take up this new and necessary responsibility: to work and move forward together by means of specific and innovating projects.
I know that today we all believe that to face the current challenges, and in view of the fact that our energy is essential, what will ultimately make us stronger are our complementary features. You can count on my full commitment, alongside President Abdessamad SEKKAL, to give shape to this ambition and reinforce our organisation.
Both in France and worldwide, my belief is the same: the voice of the regions must be heard.
This is a claim that I will strongly and wholeheartedly make, at your side.
Laurent WAUQUIEZ
Vice-President of ORU Fogar
President of the International Association of Francophone Regions
President of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
