The third Inter-regional Steering Committee Meeting of the CultMark Operation took place on 30-31 May 2005 in Rostock and Wismar, Germany, with the participation of representatives from all partner places and the Vice-President of DEMKA Nea Ionia Magnesia (Lead Partner) Mr Antonis Kalipolitis (standing in for George Tamias, President of DEMKA who could not attend and send apologies).

In the beginning of the first day, 30 May, at Rostock City Hall the Senator of Culture, Sports and Education of the Hanseatic City of Rostock Mrs Ida Schillen welcomed the representatives of the CultMark partners and stressed the importance of the operation for the promotion of the rich cultural heritage of Rostock. Mr Antonis Kalipolitis, Vice-President of DEMKA thanked the city of Rostock for organising the meeting and explained that he has been recently appointed in the position of Vice-President of DEMKA so he is looking forward to co-operating with the partners till the end of the project which he considers as being very important for Nea Ionia and the other partner areas. He expressed his wish for the continuation of the partnership after the end of the operation.

Afterwards, the Project Coordinator presented an overview of the progress to date and the management and coordination issues. He emphasised that the operation is coming up to its mid-term and a self-assessment procedure will need to be undertaken in July 2005 according to the work programme.

The partners’ representatives presented the progress of each partner in Components 2, 3 and 5 and the Scientific Coordinator (University of Thessaly) presented the Work Programme for the Components 2-5, the time schedule and the deliverables (the Final Provided Good, the Promotional and Distributional Maps, the Place Marketing Pre-Plans). The deliverables of Component 5 were discussed. Each partner place should produce a 10-minute video and the Lead Partner DEMKA will produce the overall video (30 minutes), based on the 10-minute videos of each partner place.

In the evening, the Senator of Culture, Sports and Education of the City of Rostock Mrs Ida Schillen and the representative of the Board of Finances of Rostock Mrs Elisa Rode, hosted a dinner for the partners in Rostock port.

On the second day, 31 May, the meeting was held in Wismar, where each Interregional Working Group (WG) coordinator gave a report of the groups’ priorities and actions and arrangements were made for meetings of WG A and B in Chester and Pafos respectively during September 2005.

Afterwards each partner presented their local demonstration actions (Component 4) that took place during this period and publicity and dissemination actions were discussed. The Project Co-ordinator informed that the summaries of Deliverables are now available on the operation’s website. Nea Ionia (www.nea-ionia-today.gr), Chester (www.cultmark.org.uk) and Pafos (www.visitpafos.org) have launched their websites as part of the project.

The partners held also bi-lateral meetings for the thematic Working Groups and Management and Coordination Unit issues with the Project Co-ordinator and the Scientific Co-ordinator from the University of Thessaly.

The second day of the meeting ended with a reception at Wismar City Hall, hosted by the Mayor of Wismar Mr Thomas Beyer. In his speech the Mayor of Wismar welcoming the CultMark partners, expressed his delight on being able to receive such an important delegation in Wismar. He then explained the relevance of industrial heritage in the city’s image, drew the connection the city as university location and stressed the importance of the State Technical Museum has in the region. He also pointed out some of the successful local activities within the framework of the CultMark project – namely the exhibitions of kinetic art, implemented with children.

Along with the Steering Committee meeting, the CultMark partners had the opportunity to attend a programme of technical visits, which included the Rostock Maritime Museum (demonstration action), the Rostock Museum of History and Culture, the Rostock Museum Ship (demonstration action) and the new site for the State Technical Museum in Wismar.