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International activities in Hordaland County Council

Hordaland County Council’s international vision is; “Western-Norway – a creative, including and wealth producing region in Europe”. In order to achieve this, Hordaland will encourage the cooperation with institutions in other European countries. The main instruments of cooperation are:

Cooperating regions
European organisations
International Projects
The West Norway Office in Brussels

In March 2009, Hordaland County council adopted a new international strategy for the period 2009 - 2012

Cooperating Regions

Hordaland County Council has formal agreements of cooperation with the following regions:

In addition to this, the county council has an extensive cooperation with:

European organisations

Hordaland County Council is member of the following interregional organisations;

Assembly of European Regions (AER)
Conference on Peripheral and maritime Regions (CPMR) including the North Sea Commission (NSC)
Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation (BSSSC)

International Projects

Although Norway is not a member of the EU, Norwegian organisations and institutions can still participate in over 30 European programs. See a full list here

Hordaland County Council has concentrated its effort on three programs:

Youth in action
Lifelong Learning Program, with a special emphasis on the Leonardo da Vinci sector program
Interreg – EU’s progam for interregional cooperation, where Hordaland can participate in sub-programs IVB: North Sea Program, Northern Periphery Program and the Baltic Sea Program, as well as IVC: Interregional cooperation

Hordaland County Council is also the national contact point for the North Sea Program

Organisation

Hordaland County Council has two departments involved in the county’s international activities:

The European Office, which is the county’s operative international office - coordinating the participation in different EU-programs, as well as being the local administration for the West Norway Office in Brussels. Contact: europakontoret@post.hfk.no

International Affairs, which is the county’s strategic unit for the coordination and development of international activities, and is also responsible for the cooperating regions and European organisations. Contact: international@post.hfk.no

West Norway Office in Brussels is owned by 3 counties and 13 municipalities and works to promote West Norway’s interests in Brussels, as well as to provide information and guidance to the members.

For more information on Hordaland County Council’s international activities please see the international newsletters.