From 13 to 15 December 2017, an international conference on Entrepreneurship and Development in Western Greece was held in Patras, the regional capital. Prokopios Pavlopoulos, the President of Greece, officially opened the conference, stressing the need for strengthening alliances in Europe and highlighting the importance of cohesion. Markku Markkula, first Vice-President of the CoR, praised the strong partnership spirit of Western Greece's strategy in support of entrepreneurship that helped the region win the EER label and improve the business environment.