EUSAIR (EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region) is one of the four EU macro-regional strategies whose overall objective is to promote sustainable economic and social prosperity in the Adriatic and Ionian Region.

Officially launched by the European Commission in 2014, it now brings together ten participating countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia and San Marino, which joined in February 2022.

In order to pursue its objectives, EUSAIR operates through European cooperation mechanisms, structuring its activities around five priority sectors known as Pillars. The fifth Pillar, “Improved Social Cohesion”, was established in May 2025 following a revision of the Action Plan underpinning the Strategy, which had originally identified four Pillars: Blue Growth, Connecting the Region, Environmental Quality, and Sustainable Tourism.

Pillar 1 - Blue Growth 

Objective: to foster innovative growth in the region by promoting sustainable economic development in the blue economy.

Pillar 2 - Connecting the Region

Objective: to improve connectivity in the region's transport and energy networks and with the rest of Europe.

Pillar 3 - Environmental quality

Objective: to improve environmental quality through regional cooperation.

Pillar 4 - Sustainable Tourism

Objective: to develop the region in terms of innovative, sustainable, responsible, and high-quality tourism.

Pillar 5 - Improved Social Cohesion

Objective: to develop skills and the quality of education, and to promote youth engagement, equal opportunities, and social innovation.
 

Following the accession of the Republic of San Marino to the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative - AII (2019) and to the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region - EUSAIR (2022), San Marino was automatically included as an eligible country within the European Transnational Cooperation Programme Interreg IPA ADRION, a financial instrument that facilitates the implementation of the Strategy. Thanks to this important achievement, San Marino has taken a further step towards European integration and, for the first time, has joined a European transnational cooperation network.

San Marino is a partner in the EUSAIR Facility Point Strategic Project (Interreg IPA Adrion 2021-2027), an instrument to promote and facilitate the implementation of the European Union Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) and of its Action Plan through technical, administrative and operational support to the governance structures of EUSAIR and to the coordination between pillars and Thematic Steering Groups (TSGs).

This project also aims to give visibility and prominence to EUSAIR and its activities through communication and to foster inter-macro-regional cooperation, involving all the stakeholders in the Strategy. EUSAIR Facility Point also monitors and evaluates the Strategy through analyses, documents, studies and sector-specific research.

The project involves all ten EUSAIR participating countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, the Friuli Venezia Giulia region for Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, San Marino, Serbia and Slovenia.

Coordination is entrusted to the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development of the Republic of Slovenia, which acts as Lead Partner.

For further information, please visit the official websites:
- www.aii-ps.org/
- https://www.adriatic-ionian.eu/
- https://www.interreg-ipa-adrion.eu/ 
- https://facilitypoint.interreg-ipa-adrion.eu/ 

The first official visit to San Marino by the Secretary General of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative, H.E. Giovanni Castellaneta, took place accompanied by a high delegation of the Secretariat.

Il Segretario di Stato per gli Affari Esteri, Luca Beccari, ha partecipato questa mattina alla conferenza in occasione del 25^ anniversario della Dichiarazione di Ancona, dal titolo “nuovi orizzonti e prospettive per l’Unione europea”.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luca Beccari, spoke today in Šibenik, Croatia, during the 9th Ministerial Forum of the European Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, better known as EUSAIR. The Minister was accompanied by a diplomatic delegation, led by the Ambassador of San Marino to Croatia, Marina Emiliani.

On 10 November 2023, the event “Skills development for the sustainable growth of the Adriatic-Ionian region”, recognised by the European Union as part of the calendar of activities organised in the framework of the European Year of Skills, took place in San Marino.

This event was aimed at raising awareness on crucial issues such as sustainable growth and non-formal education, by promoting concrete actions to preserve the environment and to ensure a better quality of life for all citizens of the Adriatic-Ionian Macroregion.

The organisation of the conference was boosted by the Forum of Adriatic and Ionian Cities and involved the San Marino institutions which usually collaborate in activities related to San Marino's participation in EUSAIR: Department of Foreign Affairs, University of San Marino, Chamber of Commerce and San Marino Innovation.

Read the meeting report

The inclusion of young people in EUSAIR Governance and Pillars is at the top of the agenda of the Strategy's governing bodies. However, as underlined in the Manifesto for Young People by Young People to Shape the European Cooperation Policy, young people and local communities need to be further informed about the opportunities available and the calls of the various EU cohesion instruments.

This Seminar brings together schools, universities, youth associations, INTERREG programmes and representatives of EUSAIR, with the objectives of: i) informing potential beneficiaries about the EUSAIR strategy for the region and concrete involvement opportunities; ii) informing youth organisations of the opportunities arising from INTERREG IPA programmes, including schools and universities; and iii) raise awareness of Youth Manifesto recommendations for wider inclusion of young people in EU-funded programmes and calls.

This Seminar is part of a series of events organised by the Cooperation and Development Institute (CDI) in collaboration with the European Commission, and is organised in collaboration with the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region and the Directorate of European Affairs of San Marino.

Download the full event programme