INVITATION

Dear friend,

It is with the greatest pleasure that Lord Colin Low, President of the European Blind Union (EBU), and M. Miguel Carballeda, President of the Spanish National Association of the Blind (ONCE), take the opportunity to invite you to the following event :

"European Union International Co-operation Policy :

The Involvement of the Visually Impaired Movement"

This event will be organised in co-operation with European Union institutions and with national public bodies from 20 to 22 October 2006 in Madrid at the locations indicated in the preliminary programme.

The main purpose of this conference is to fulfill one of the main objectives of EBU's Strategic Plan for the work period 2003/2007 : to enhance the participation of our community in international co-operation and development, and to establish common action guidelines on the promotion and implementation of co-operation programmes for people with disabilities, using discussion and sharing knowledge, experiences and opportunities, and insisting on raising policy makers' awareness of the needs and priorities of blind or partially sighted people.

This conference aims to gather several objectives under one overarching goal :

. To create a forum for discussion for NGOs and public entities, in order to establish common action guidelines in the field of development co-operation for people with disabilities in general and the visually impaired in particular.

. To incorporate gradually the disability dimension within the approaches and co-operation plans of public entities and social NGOs responsible for development co-operation.

. To acquire and spread knowledge about current programmes to promote the creation of networks that would gather efforts in several geographical areas.

. To give the opportunity to all stakeholders involved in the process to widen their knowledge of different experiences in the disability and co-operation field, as well as to stimulate participation in internet discussion lists.

For all these reasons, and hoping that this might be of interest to you, we attach the programme and the registration form, so that you can register no later than 20 September 2006.

Lord Colin Low, EBU President,
Miguel Carballeda, ONCE President


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