The European Congress of Renewal and Rural Development will be held on 8-10 May 2025 at the Poznań Expo as part of the Polish Presidency in the Council of the European Union. The Greater Poland Voivodeship Local Government is co-hosting the event, and the organiser is the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. On behalf of the organisers and partners, we encourage you to participate.
The Congress aims to showcase ideas, innovative solutions, best practices, as well as actors and support systems with a distinguished track record in working for the countryside and rural areas in the context of global challenges and threats, especially the need to build the resilience of rural communities and solutions to strengthen their security.
The Congress will become an event that, through the presentation of ideas and the demonstration of effective solutions, will encourage a turn towards grassroots and the building of community resilience based on a self-help formula. Thus, the Congress will contribute to building stronger, connected, resilient and prosperous rural areas as outlined in the Long Term Vision for Rural Areas to 2040 announced in 2021 by the European Commission.
The Congress will be attended by some 1,500 people - representatives of ministries responsible for rural development in the EU27, institutions working for the development of villages and rural areas, representatives of local authorities, NGOS, academia, leaders of rural communities, with particular emphasis on key circles: women, youth and sport.
The programme will include Wielkopolska Day (8 May), European Day (9 May) and Poland Day (10 May).
The plenary hall will be the central place for presentations and proposals from the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and his partners from EU countries, politicians, publicists, representatives of science and practitioners involved in the transformation of the countryside and rural areas. The subject of the planned panel discussion will be the position of the Congress, emphasising the need to turn development policies towards bottom-up approaches and to build the resilience of local communities based on a self-help formula.