1. Nord-Pas-de-Calais (France);
2. North-Rhein -Westphalia (Germany);
3. The Lvov District (Ukraine);
4. The Moravian-Silesian Land (Czech Republic);
5. The Czerniowieck District (Ukraine);
6. Wales (Great Britain);
7. The Żylina Self-Gornmental Land (Slovakia);
8. Styria (Austria);
9. The Duchy of Asturia (Spain);
10. Western Götland (Sweden)
11. The Bas-Rhin Department (France);
12. The Suceava District (Romania);
13. The Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén Voivodeship (Hungary);
14. Walloon (Belgium)

The International Co-operation

The Śląskie Voivodeship is a member of the international organisations:

• Committee of the Regions
• Social and Economic Committee
• Assembly of European Regions (AER) (membership since December 2000)
• The France - Poland for Europe Association (membership since 2003)
• CPLRE (Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe at the European Council  
• CEMR (Council of European Municipalities and Regions)
• EIRA (European Industrial Regions Association)
• ERIS@ (European Regional Information Society Association)

The representatives of the Śląskie Voivodeship participate in the works of the Committee of the Regions (Marshal of the Śląskie Voivodeship) as well as in the Social and Economic Committee (President of the Regional Economic Chamber in Katowice).

The Areas of Co-operation

• economic co-operation between companies and enterprises;
• environment protection;
• brown fields development;
• social policy;
• co-operation of the scientific % research centres (staff and students);
• exchange of the secondary school youth;
• culture, promotion, tourism;
• integrated transport;
• structural funds

European Union Funds

The European Union aid for the Śląskie Voivodeship (just like for Poland) prior to the accession to the Community was provided in two stages:

• since 1999 - aid programs - PHARE: STRUDER, RAPID, STRUDER II, ODBUDOWA, INRED, SPP, INICJATYWA I, INICJATYWA II
• since 2000 - pre-accession programs - the programming took place at the governmental level (ISPA, SAPARD, PHARE) as well as on the regional one (PHARE - social and economic cohesion)

The projects executed in the Śląskie Voivodeship were financed under all the three pre-accession funds. 

Along with Poland's accession to the European Union on 1 May 2004, it became possible for the Śląskie

Voivodeship to achieve support under the structural funds:

• European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
• European Social Fund (ESF)
• European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)

The rules for the use of the UE resources for the regional development, types of projects as well as the rules for granting the aid from ERDF and ESF are stipulated by the Integrated Operational Plan for Regional Development (ZPORR).

The selected investment projects to be executed from the PHARE aid resources:

• building the road joining the airport in Pyrzowice with the Upper-Silesian Agglomeration
• re-building the access roads to the border crossing point in Cieszyn and in the region of the Chałupki-Bohumin border crossing point
• transforming the degraded brown field area into the social and economic activity zone in Tychy
• erecting the enterprise centre "The Silesian Castle of Art and Enterprise" in Cieszyn

Apart from the infrastructural investment projects, improving the region's competitiveness, it is also the projects associated with the human resources development that are financed under PHARE as well as those connected with the growth of the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), comprising the investment aid and training & counselling for SMEs.

It is the Upper-Silesian Agency for Regional Development that is the institution responsible for administering the European union aid programs, monitoring the investment projects and promoting the support programs under the SMEs Development program. It functions as the regional financing authority.

The selected enterprises to be executed from the ISPA aid resources:

• building the A-4 motorway between Kleszczów and Gliwice Sośnica
• modernising the S-1 express road from Bielsko-Białaj via Skoczów to Cieszyn

The Regional Office of the Śląskie Voivodeship in Brussels

Informational and Promotional Activity

• organising promotional events for the Śląskie Voivodeship in Brussels, presenting, among others, the region's tradition, culture and economy, distributing the regional and local informational & promotional publications
• informing the regional entities about the programs executed by the EU concerning the economic activity, labour market, education, environment protection, energy, infrastructure, rural area development, brown field areas revitalisation , information society, knowledge-based economy
• representing the Śląskie Voivodeship in relations with the EU institutions and other foreign partners

Address:
Rue Saint Laurent 36/38, 1000 Bruxelles
tel.: +32 (2) 514 77 67
fax: +32 (2) 218 77 77
e-mail: brws.bruksela@silesia-region.pl
www.silesia-europa.pl/