Dr Michaël Dooms and Patrick Verhoeven participated at a Symposium on Cooperation between ports and local communities" that was organised by Flanders Port Area (FPA) on October 11th,. FPA wants to reinforce the port clusters by stimulating cooperation between the Flemish seaports, inter alia in the domain of societal support and communication with local stakeholders.

This Inspiration Day 'Port and local communities: together works better' was chaired by Ms. Lieve Verfaillie (mediator large scale infrastructure works for the Flemish Government) and included contributions of ir. Rik Goetinck and ir. Ilse Hoet of the department of Mobility and Public Works, Mr Patrick Verhoeven (PortEconomics.eu associate member) from ESPO,  along other speakers from the ministry, port authorities, local interest groups and experts on stakeholder relations and infrastructure project implementation. About 100 experts, from the port sector as well as other infrastructure sectors such as road, inland waterway and rail, participated to the symposium.

The closing speech was delivered by Ms. Hilde Crevits, Minister for Mobility and Public Works in the Flemish Government. In an introductory presentation, dr. Michaël Dooms presented the theoretical and practical aspects of stakeholder management for ports, outlining five important challenges for port authorities in his conclusion: 3 internal organizational challenges (coordination, communication and competence) and 2 external organizational challenges (constructing consensus and complementary concepts). Find out more in the presentation attached