The World Bank assists West Regionfor regional planning and sustainable development

West Regional Development Agency (West RDA) - as beneficiary - signed the contract with the Authority for Coordination of Structural Instruments in Romania - The Managing Authority for the Operational Programme Technical Assistance - and the framework agreement with the World Bank - service provider within the project - to implement the technical assistance package "Services to increase competitiveness and smart specialization in West Region."

This agreement is a pilot project in Romania - World Bank assisting a region or a regional organization, with the planning approach.

The Planning approach covers the 2014 - 2020  period and West RDA has a very important role in the regional planning process being an organization authorized to develop, in partnership with stakeholders and partners in the West Region the National Plan for Regional Development of the Western Region.

The technical assistance package,  "Services to increase competitiveness and smart specialization in West Region" is the result of West RDA's work to support entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainable development in West Region, Romania.

The analysis made by the World Bank and the resulting recommendations will form the basis on which to build t "smart specialization"in the West Region and will determine the regional development planning, the innovation strategy in the region, and - most importantly - the allocation of EU funds for the West Region in the next programming period - 2014-2020.

In this analysis, the World Bank will explore West Region economy, trends in key industries and economic specialization from national to regional level.

The project will be conducted during 9 months. The total value of the project  exceeds 3 million Lei. It is entirely financed with European funds within the Operational Programme Technical Assistance.