Within the EU funded project "Support to Regional Development Policy Implementation II" a study trip of senior Georgian regional development officials to Slovenia was organized on 5-11 November 2017.
The study visit was arranged in the context of on-going work on the development of RDP 2018-2021 in order to familiarise the delegates representing relevant RDP stakeholders with planning and implementation of regional policy and coordination mechanisms with other policies and programmes (e.g. economic development, innovation, smart specialisation, spatial planning, local development, employment, etc.).
There were 10 delegates from the following Georgian public institutions being key actors or stakeholders of the RDP 2015-2017 partaking in the study visit: Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, Georgian Tourism Administration, Georgian Innovation and Technology Agency and Produce in Georgia Agency.
The participants were assisted by TA team members: Mr Piotr Zuber (TL), Mr Tomasz Kilianski (KE2), Mr Zviad Archuadze (LTNKE) and Mr Edin Mehmeti (Project Manager).
On the first day the study trip participants were received by the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy of the Republic of Slovenia. The national structural policy coordination office representatives provided briefing about policy context, role of EU funding, institutional framework evolution and coordination mechanisms with regional and local stakeholders and beneficiaries. During the meeting the delegates could also get familiar with intervention measure mix covering various aspects of regional policy and smart specialisation, project selection criteria, cost benefit analysis, etc.
During the study trip the meetings were organized with the following institutions: Ministry of Economic Development and Technology of Slovenia, Association of Regional Development Agencies of Slovenia, Regional Development Agency of Ljubljana Urban Region, the Technology Park Ljubljana and Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food and the Centre of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training.
Three field visits were organized to Municipalities of Nova Gorica, Posoški razvojni centre in Tolmin and City Maribor. Two institutions were visited in Maribor: Slovene Enterprise Fund and Stajerska Chamber of Commerce.
The area of interest covered the following issues: Cooperation and implementation of joint projects financed by EU; methodology of preparation of policy and strategies; interrelation of regional development agencies, local action groups (LAG) and municipalities; Hierarchy among national strategies (e.g. rural development, regional development and etc.); business support institutions, schemes and instruments in terms of regional development; human capital improvement approaches.
The study trip was considered as a good opportunity for Georgian and Slovenian sides to establish institutional interaction and communications in the future.