The IX European Mountain Convention was organised on 22, 23 & 24 October 2014 in Bilbao, Spain. Entitled “A new CAP: mountain of opportunities”, this edition was organised in collaboration with the Basque government and HAZI.

With a new programming period for the Common Agriculture Policy, the IX European Mountain Convention aimed at:

• Examining how the new European policies, and in particular the CAP in the EU, can contribute to the structuring of supply chains and territories through brands and labels that valorise specific territories and the mountain dimension (investment, cooperation, promotion, quality improvement, innovation…): possibilities offered by the European framework and used (or not) in the programmes of the different regions and Member States. Comparison with non-EU countries.
• Facilitating the exchange of ideas between mountain LAGs in order to compare and improve their draft local development strategies with regard to territorial marketing and the valorisation of mountain products: benchmarking, presentation of interesting initiatives…
• Exploring how the family dimension of mountain farming can be positively valorised in the labelling and promotion strategies of products and services.
• Preparing contributions for the 2015 World Exhibition “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”: how can quality mountain products respond to the food security challenges of tomorrow?