Twinning for Azerbaijan

According to the National Contact Point, located in the Department of Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, the beneficiary selected the Polish-Lithuanian twinning offer “Increasing Road Safety in Azerbaijan”.

The offer was developed by, among others:

• on behalf of Poland: Center for EU Transport Projects (leading institution), Ministry of Infrastructure, Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy, General Inspectorate of Road Transport, Road and Bridge Research Institute,
• on behalf of Lithuania: Ministry of Transport and Communication of the Republic of Lithuania, Lithuanian Transport Safety Administration, Lithuanian Police, Transport Competence Agency.

The idea of Twinning

Twinning is a program established upon the initiative of the European Commission in 1998, the main goal of it is to support public institutions and contribute to the development of modern administration in countries covered by programs financed by the European Commission, such as: the European Neighborhood Instrument, for Pre-Accession Assistance.

Under the IPA program, the beneficiaries of twinning projects include, among others, candidate countries for the European Union, while the ENPI program is intended for countries covered by the neighborhood and partnership policy.

Twinning is primarily a partnership cooperation between public institutions from donor and recipient countries. The cooperation consists in transferring to the recipient country the experience of the donor country related to the implementation of EU law, and it also enables establishing long-term contacts between cooperation partners. Twinning projects are mainly implemented through specialist training in the beneficiary’s country and study visits to the institutions of the donor country, according to the rules set out by the European Commission in the so-called Twinning Manual. Public administration units and entities with the status of the so-called Mandated Body (more in the Submission of Offers tab) can participate in the cooperation.

Poland as a participant in twinning programs

Poland has been participating in twinning programs as an aid recipient since 1998 (initially, Poland benefited from Phare funds, and after accession to the EU, it uses the Transition Facility program). Until 2008, Polish public administration units were beneficiaries of over more than twinning projects. Twinning projects are implemented in sectors such as: agriculture, environmental protection, justice and home affairs, finance, economic policy, employment and social policy, transport and energy, as well as regional development.

Since 2004, Polish public administration institutions and institutions with the status of Mandated Body have had the possibility of participating in the implementation of twinning projects as aid donors. Until 2018, Polish institutions participated in the implementation of more than 100 twinning projects.

More information on twinning projects can be found on the website of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is the institution coordinating twinning projects in Poland.