International Projects

Since coming into existence, the company MEPCO has been active abroad, namely in the countries of Southeast Europe, where the technical assistance and pre-accession experience of Czech experts continues to be sought for and appreciated. The company MEPCO had already before that successfully established a long-term partnership with towns and associations of local administrations in the countries of Southeast Europe, using a wide network of partners for its work. Precisely thanks to this network of partners, MEPCO became in 2007 a member of the winning consortium, which is headed by the mother organization, VNG International, and thus has a good chance to realize the extensive programme designed to support the development of municipalities in North-Eastern Serbia (Municipal Support Programme North-Eastern Serbia). The programme includes the provision of technical assistance amounting to € 6.7 million; and the main goal of this assistance is the improvement and support of economic growth and rise in living standards of the inhabitants of North-Eastern Serbia. One of the target localities is the town of Bela Crkva, inhabited by a Czech minority as well, where MEPCO has already realized several developmental projects. The company MEPCO endeavours to co-ordinate its own activities with the support of the official Czech development aid and also with the help of the Czech Embassy in Serbia.

The current programming period offers a wide range of opportunities even for Czech towns to deal with some of their problems in cooperation with foreign institutions. In spite of the fact that the Czech Republic has been a full member of the EU for several years now, many Czech towns/cities are reluctant to establish partnership abroad, especially if the result does not include some kind of financial solution of the problem concerned. The financial motivation often remains to be the priority; nevertheless, joining a quality project today is primarily a question of prestige and, particularly, of gaining the necessary and desired know-how. One of the handy instruments for foreign (international) co-operation is the participation in projects like the INTERREG programme within operational programmes of European co-operation. These projects are not only suitable for large cities but also for regions and micro-regions. In reaction to the first calls for proposals, announced within these programmes, MEPCO designed projects for instance for the Vysočina Region, or for the Micro-Region Bohemian Switzerland.