XVII meeting of the Slovak – Polish Intergovernmental Commission for Transfrontier Cooperation
On 7-8 April 2011 the XVII meeting of the Slovak – Polish Intergovernmental Commission for Transfrontier Cooperation took place in the Ministry of Interior and Administration in Warsaw. The session was presided over by: Mr. Piotr Stachanczyk, Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Interior and Administration of the Republic of Poland and Mr Maroš Žilinka , Secretary of State in the Slovak Ministry of Internal Affairs. The meeting was also attendet by: Mr Vasil Grivna, newly appointed Ambassador to Slovak Republic in Warsaw, Mr Andrzej Krawczyk - Ambassador to Poland in Bratislava, Mr Boguslaw Waksmundzki, Chair of the Councif of "Tatra" Euroregion Assosiation and Igor Šajtlava, Member of the Council.
The works of the Polish-Slovak Commission are conducted within several working groups: for economic cooperation, health and emergency services, environmental protection and economy. During the two-day meeting, the sides exchanged their experiences in the field of fire protection and the cooperation between Polish and Slovak firefighters.
Issues related to prevention of unemployment in the Polish-Slovak border region have also been rised. It is worth noting that Employment Office in Nowy Targ actively participates in the project. Of the three major sittings, one revolved around the creation of European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation on the polish-slovak border area.
After the presentation given by Mr. Piotr Stachańczyk, about the rules of creating a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation, the floor was taken by Mr Igor Sajtlava and Mr Boguslaw Waksmundzki, who introduced the objectives of establishing the EGTC "Tatry" and the draft convention. Mr. Andrzej Krawczyk, Ambassador of Poland to Slovakia, expressed his support for the idea of setting up the first on the polish-slovak border region EGTC.
In its concluding protocol, the Intergovernmental Commission for Transfrontier Cooperation concluded that the formation of an EGTC will strengthen cooperation in the polish-slovak border region and expressed the belief that the projects under the EU's macro-regional strategies should not be pursued at the expense of weakening the existing cooperation within the European Cross-Border Cooperation. It was stressed that Slovakia is an important economic partner of Poland. The development of transport infrastructure should facilitate trade between the two countries. It has been decided that the host of the next, XVIII meeting of the Commision, scheduled for 2012, will be Slovak Republic.