December 1st the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein and Region Zealand have agreed to expand their bilateral cooperation based on a joint action plan.
The parties agreed that the establishment of a Fehmarn Fixed Link paves the way for strong development possibilities – for both the close Fehmarnbelt region and the neighbouring areas.
The partners of the Political Network STRING will continuously pursue the development of the STRING Corridor as their strategical framework, the two politicians state.
Concrete stages
As a first step, the federal government and the regional council make key players within bio economy, e-health and telemedicine to meet. Potentials and possibilities within these businesses are to be explored for creating hands-on partnership projects.
With the underlying focus on the Fixed Link, the partners will support initiatives that lie within the regional businesses areas of strength. This will happen while working on a joint innovations strategy.
Albig: Strong German-Danish development
– Region Zealand is our neighbour across the Fehmarn Belt and we are experiencing robust and diverse development in the German-Danish relations. In the coming years we will continue to grow closer – and together. Therefore, this is an important signal to send. From today, we will work closer together and utilise joint developmental perspectives. Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein Torsten Albig commented in connection with the signing of the Action Plan and added:
– Given that Schleswig-Holstein already has a successful cooperation with the Region of Southern Denmark, yet another building block has been placed for our bilateral relation with Denmark.
Stenbæk: Potential for innovation
– In future cooperation with our German neighbours, we will identify potentials for innovation in our common geography. A good example being bio economics and the transition to a bio-based and sustainable society. The ambition to develop innovative products and productions that can generate growth and jobs, is both German and Danish, says Jens Stenbæk, Chairman of the council of Region Zealand.
Region Zealand has a declared ambition of involving at least 100 businesses in cross-border collaborations together with Schleswig-Holstein in the next four years.
Bilateral Action Plans as supplement to STRING-cooperation
Minister of Justice, Culture and European Affairs for Schleswig-Holstein, Anke Spoorendonk, pointed out that both partners have worked together for more than 10 years in the multilateral political network STRING.
– I would like to draw attention to two activities that are close to my heart. Firstly, the border commuter guidance for the Fehmarnbelt region, as this will have increased importance. Here, we can build on the experiences and competencies from the “Infocenter Grænse/Grenze”. Secondly, the new INTERREG project “KulturKit” – a cross border culture project that will a joint region, said Anke Spoorendonk at the signing in Kiel.
