Regional and Cross-Border Cooperation between Germany and Poland
Between the 29th and 30th of September 2015 the 26th meeting of the Polish-German Intergovernmental Commission Regional and Cross-Border Cooperation was held in Szczecin, Poland
October 07th, 2015
The main aim of the meeting was for an opportunity to discuss current topics such as the participation in the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Polish-German treaty on good neighborliness and friendly cooperation provinces and the federal states, which will occur in 2016. Revitalizing the rail connections and the development of cross-border passenger services and support to learn Polish were also discussed.
During the meeting of the Commission the cooperation of police services was highly discussed. Attention was drawn to the possibilities of widening cooperation through the agreement of cross-border guards, police and customs officials, which entered into force on July 9th earlier this year. In the context of very good cooperation, a representative of the State Fire Service presented information on the ongoing work regarding the development of a manual of good practices on the importance and duty to provide protection during disasters, natural disasters or other serious incidents in the border area.
During the meeting, issues related to the modernization of railway connections between Wrocław-Dresden, Wroclaw-Berlin and Szczecin-Berlin were also discussed at length. The discussion also focused on the planned activities to develop proposals for the development of cross-border passenger transport.
At the meeting consultations were also held on the promotion of Polish language learning in Germany and, likewise, the teaching of German in Poland. The Commission has therefore recommended the promotion of teaching German and Polish as a foreign language in both countries. Furthermore, the intensification of education and intercultural education at every level of education were emphasized.
The Committee meetings were attended, among others, by representatives of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, the General Headquarters of the State Fire Service, as well as representatives of provincial offices and marshal of the border regions and Euro-regions.
The next meeting of the Commission will be held in 2016 in the Federal Republic of Germany.
References
Berlin Global
