Inter­na­tional activities

The Regional Council of North Karelia has close cooper­a­tion links with regions in Europe and Asia. Widening the cooper­a­tion scope to the rest of the world is one of the devel­op­ment aims. Council parti­cip­ates in several European networks and projects.

The East and North Finland EU office repres­ents the interest of the regions of Central Ostro­bothnia, Kainuu, Lapland, North Karelia, Northern Ostro­bothnia, North Savo and South Savo in Brussels. In close collab­or­a­tion with the regional councils the Brussels office aims to improve the compet­it­ive­ness and condi­tions of the businesses throughout the East and North of Finland.

The Council also monitors the imple­ment­a­tion of the European Territ­orial Cooper­a­tion Programmes (Northern Periphery and Artic, Interreg Baltic Sea Region and Interreg Europe) in the region of North Karelia.

North Karelia is also a member of Barents region,  Associ­ation of European Border Regions, Network of Northern Sparsely Populated areas, European Regions Research and Innov­a­tion Network and European Regions for Innov­a­tion in Agricul­ture, Food and Forestry network.

Regional Council of North Karelia has also signed a memor­andum of under­standing concerning cooper­a­tion prior­ities with the province of Nagano in Japan.