On May 17, 2023 in Lublin, during the third edition of the Three Seas Local Government Congress, the Network gained a permanent basis in the form of an Agreement specifying the rules of its operation.
The signatories of the agreement are the marshals of five Polish voivodeships: Lubelskie, Mazowieckie, Podkarpackie, Podlaskie and Świętokrzyskie, and the heads of regions from the countries belonging to the Three Seas Initiative: the Lithuanian regions of Alytus, Marjampole and Panevėžys, the Prešov Self – Governing Region from Slovakia, the Hungarian Hajdú-Bihar County and five Romanian counties: Călărași, Caraș Severin, Dolj, Maramureș and Timiș.
Agreement of the Network of the Three Seas Regions
Charter of the Network of the Three Seas Regions
During the third edition of the Three Seas Local Government Congress in 2023, took place the ceremonial admission of new members to the Network: Rivne and Odessa Regional Military Administration and Khmelnitsky, Transcarpathian and Lviv Regional Councils from Ukraine as associated partners, as well as the Regional Development Agency “Centru” from Romania, as a regular member.
A further 4 regions declared their will to join the Network – one Bulgarian region (Dobrich Province) and one Romanian county (Hunedoara County) as regular members, as well as two regions from Ukraine (Ternopil and Zhytomyr Regional Military Administration) – as associated partners.
The Network brings together 25 regions from 7 countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Close cooperation between the entities will allow the implementation of joint projects in various fields: economy, infrastructure, environmental protection, digitization, education and science. Ukrainian regions join the Network as associated partners.
History of the Network
The Lubelskie Voivodeship is the initiator of the establishment of the Economic Network of the Three Seas Regions, which is a format of direct cooperation between local governments from twelve countries of the Three Seas Initiative. The declaration on the creation of the Network, called the Lublin Declaration, was signed during the Three Seas Local Government Economic Congress on June 29, 2021.The ceremonial signing of the Lublin Declaration in the presence of the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda was attended by 15 Founding Members of the Network.
The text of the final version of the Lublin Declaration in the signatories’ languages:
The Network is a cooperation platform open to regions of the 12 member states of the Three Seas Initiative (on the level of NUTS2 and NUTS3): Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Its members have the opportunity of periodical meetings in Lublin, to exchange experiences and to establish contacts for implementing joint projects. Regions do not bear any costs resulting from participation in the Network.
In 2022, in cooperation with the Institute of Central Europe in Lublin a REPORT was created describing the potential of all regions from the Three Seas Initiative countries.
In addition, in 2022, as part of the project “Network of Three Seas Regions – a tool for cooperation between local governments of central Europe” financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland in the “Public Diplomacy 2022” competition, the content of the agreement and charter formalizing the Three Seas Regions Network was developed. The project also developed a website WWW.3SEASNETWORK.LUBELSKIE.PL to promote the Network and its activities and to facilitate communication between all its members. In cooperation with the Institute of Local Government Development of the Lubelskie Voivodeship, the SECOND REPORT was created identifying common areas of interest and directions of cooperation between regions from the Three Seas area, with particular emphasis on the current members of the Network. The report is a substantive foundation for the expansion of the Network and indicates the directions of future cooperation worth deepening. These are economy, infrastructure, environmental protection, digitization and education and science. The report also indicates grant programs, which are a potential source of financing for activities undertaken within the Network.
Regions interested in joining the Network are invited to contact the Network Office in the Chancellery of the Marshal’s Office of the Lubelskie Voivodeship in Lublin by phone +48 81 44 16 796 or by e-mail 3SEAS.NETWORK@LUBELSKIE.PL
We invite you to cooperate with us!