Effectively promoted interests

by Mr Kari Hietala

The West Finland European Office is a common liaison office for the five regions of the West Finland Alliance (WFA): Central Finland, Ostrobothnia, Satakunta, South Ostrobothnia and Tampere Region. Pori is the capital of Satakunta Region, one of five West Finland regions.

West Finland European Office in Brussels was established in 1997, first as an experiment. Since 1999 it has been operating in its current shape. However, its operations can be traced back to 1994, when the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia founded an office in Brussels to support local business and other actors.

The West Finland European Offices team consists of two regular employees and 1-2 trainees. The office serves the Regional Councils, cities and all the other actors in the regions of the WFA. Various actors from the regions can often be met in the office during working trips.

West Finland European Office promotes effectively the city of Pori's interests in the EU and its institutions. It also provides us with up to date information about various European co-operation opportunities. We do see that West Finland European Office will have even more meaningful role in the future because of in-depth information on the EU programmes, Thnance, possible partners, etc.

Co-operation in the Baltic Sea Region is a priority for West Finland and for Pori as well. Therefore, we are interested in strengthening our networks of partners to develop projects in the areas of environment, culture, regional policy, R&D and innovation to increase the competitiveness of the Baltic Sea Region.