The Prešov-based regional chamber of the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RK SOPK) has successfully cooperated with the Economy Chamber in Nowy Sacz for several years. Their newest joint initiative is to work out a common three-year project for utilisation of activities of the Slovak and Polish chambers of commerce and industry regarding support of development of cross-border economic cooperation. According to Ing. Dušan Kováč, Prešov-based RK SOPK Director, the project is to be submitted to the Centre of International Private Enterprising (CIPE), branch of the US Chamber of Commerce, which is expected to financially support it.

Mr. Kováč, it is not spoken too much about the project. Would you explain its basic philosophy and aims?

Our project stems from requests by the Coordination Study of Slovak-Polish Cross-Border Cooperation Development worked out by the Governmental Centre of Strategic Studies of Poland and Slovak Office for Strategy of Development of Society, Science and Technology. The need of creation the concrete project was based on results of workshop on development of cross-border cooperation in Nowy Sacz in October 1998, which we organised within the framework of conference on financial markets and strategy of regional development of Central Europe in relation to European integration.

The project, including local self-governments, regional agencies, chambers of commerce and state administration, has a two basic aims. The first is to support small- and medium-sized enterprising in a form of tip and preparation of joint productive and commercial cooperation. The second is to cooperate in the field of tourism. Part of the project will also be establishment of two coordination supportive centres, which facilitate and unify the intentions. We expect too much mainly from the cooperation regarding tourism. Therefore, we welcomed that this project enjoyed interest of the Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management in Prešov and private Higher School of Business in Nowy Sacz.

Regarding support of tourism, Poland is more successful than Slovakia. Respectively, we think that we should learn something from Poles especially how tourism should look like.

Our intention is to offer future centre such tourism opportunity, which Poland does not have. We would like to mutually connect cross-border tourism and country agro-tourism and to get US and western tourists to Slovakia through Poland. Furthermore, we coordinate all activities with regional chamber of SOPK based in Zilina. We expect this project is to conclude by the end of February and it will be included into the programme of April session of the Slovak-Polish inter-governmental commission for cross-border cooperation at Javorina. If we speak about this project, we must realise that development of cross-border cooperation is the pre-process to the EU integration process. At this moment, it is necessary to transfer idea of cooperation into real life. Polish, as well as Slovak chamber structures have rich experience in the field of support of regional development. We are searching possibilities regarding how to help and we see the biggest effect in support of tourism.

Slovak Trade FORUM