On 12 February a German town Demitz-Thumitz hosted a meeting of the representatives of the Employers’ Association of Stone Industry (ZPBK) with the Board of the Saxon Association of Stonemasons. Mariusz Welman, among others, from the Spree – Neisse – Bober Euroregion was present there. He deals with initiating Polish-German contacts within the framework of the European Territorial Cooperation Poland – Saxony.

The meeting was organised to establish a long-term cooperation between the associations. Moreover, the project called “Cross border cooperation, sharing experiences and education of associations, unions and guilds in stone branch” was prepared on the initiative of the Polish association. Within the framework of the project there will be a joint seminar  (in November 2013 in Karpacz), which is going to include papers on stone issues, including, among others, natural stone, education systems in both countries, as well as getting EU funds.

Both countries are also going to present their economic offer. A joint website will be launched. Promotional materials of the project as well as the folder which promotes the members of the Association will be prepared. The mentioned project is worth 69 300 PLN, including as many as 58 900 PLN, that is 85%,  financed as funds by the Neisse Euroregion in Jelenia Góra. Another 6900 PLN (10%) will come from the national budget, and the real own contribution of ZPBK will be 5%, that is 3500 PLN. In early March the project will be assessed by the Euroregion and if it is accepted, another meeting with Germans will take place in May. Then further details concerning the cooperation will be discussed.  

Photo: T. Żółkiewicz