3rd Regional Development and Governance Symposium was held on 27-28 November 2008 in Mersin by TEPAV in cooperation with Mersin Chamber of Commerce and Industry and with contributions of The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. The theme of the symposium was "From Planning to Implementation".
Challenges in the implementation of local and regional plans were discussed in the symposium. Academicians and practitioners from Turkey and abroad discussed the issue through round table discussions accompanied by presentations.
Following the opening speeches academic and practical presentations on strategic planning and the European experience took place in the first session. Then in the following session, the regional planning experience of Turkey was discussed based on presentations of regional development plans by the practitioners and academics who were involved in the preparation thereof.
The second day started with the presentations on provincial strategic planning examples from different parts of Turkey. After each presentation practitioners who worked for those plans discussed the issues set forth in the presentations. After lunch new policies of the State Planning Organization were presented and discussed.
The symposium was finalized after a general evaluation session.
The presentations of the symposium are available at www.tepav.org.tr/sempozyum