EUPHRESCO will address the strategic objective of the Framework 6 Programme 'Integrating and Strengthening the European Research Area' by 'Supporting the Cooperation and Coordination of Research Activities Carried out at National and Regional Levels'.

EUPHRESCO aims to increase cooperation and coordination of national phytosanitary research programmes at the EU level through networking of research activities and mutual opening of national programmes, to achieve three main over-arching strategic goals:

• Develop phytosanitary (statutory plant health) research policy at the EU-wide level.
• Optimise the research provision that underpins EU quarantine plant health policy development and policy implementation, in an era of increasing biosecurity threats from alien plant pests, diseases and invasive species.
• Increase the capacity of European phytosanitary science and research, in order to prevent the disappearance of EU expertise in this field and maintain Europe's competitiveness in the global market.