West Norway in Brussels

by Ms Britt Nordgreen

In May 2003 the West Norway Office was set up in Brussels to make a Western Norway presence in Brussels and provide services and facilities for the region to promote Western Norway as an interesting partner among other European regions. Also keeping our partners informed of policy development, new initiatives and funding opportunities of direct relevance to them, assisting our partners and other institutions, participating effectively in EU programs and initiatives are other aims. The West Norway Office has the following main target groups: public sector services, research and development, culture and business.

The Office is owned by the three counties of Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane and More og Romsdal, the cities of Bergen and Alesund, together with several smaller municipalities.

The Board represents all these interests. Out of seven members four are elected among the owners (municipalities/counties) and the remaining three represent all the target groups (business, R&D, culture).

The office has a director and two trainees in Brussels and in the region there is one contact person in each county.

As Norway is not a member of the EU - so should it have a representation office in Brussels? Through the EEA agreement both the regional and local levels in Norway are affected by the EU decisions and legislation. The EEA agreement also gives Norwegian companies and institutions access to EU's programs. Today there are 6 Norwegian representation offices in Brussel, representing every region of the country.

The West Norway Office is located in Rue Archimede 17, in the same premises as The Royal Norwegian Embassy and The Mission of Norway to the European Union.