In connection with numerous questions concerning the conclusion of civil law contracts with the personnel within the projects in the Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2007-2013 the Joint Technical Secretariat would kindly remind that all contracts within the projects must correspond to the competitiveness principle. Therefore the following provisions shall apply:

The signing of all 117 contracts for the co-financing of projects ended within the Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland - Belarus- Ukraine 2007-2013. Their value is estimated at 174.1 million euros. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Development signed a total of 117 contracts for co-funding:
• 74 Polish - Ukrainian projects (107.9 million euros),
• 29 Polish - Belarusian (58.5 million euros),
• 14 trilateral projects (7.7 million euros).

Over 50 people attended the meeting for networking cooperation with Ukraine. The event took place from 4 to 6 February in Rzeszów. The good practices were exchanged between the government staff and councilors from Rzeszów, Ivano - Frankivsk and Luck. The cross-border meeting was organised in the framework of the "Joint cooperation network in the cultural and social sphere in favour of the development of the cities of Polish -Ukrainian border", funded by the European Union.

The project, which aims to develop and approve an optimal scenario for the restoration of an important international arterial waterway E40 on the section Dnieper-Vistula-Oder, is funded by the European Union within the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine cross-border cooperation programme for 2007-2013. The project is being implemented by the Republican unitary maintenance and construction enterprise "Dnepro-Bug Waterway" in partnership with regional authorities, organizations that deal with management of water resources, as well as civil society organizations from Belarus, Poland and Ukraine. The project is supported by the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Belarus, Ministry of Infrastructure of the Republic of Poland, and Ministry of Transportation and Communication of Ukraine.

The Joint Technical Secretariat would like to inform of simplification of the project modifications process. The changes include:

• - Request forms have been supplemented by an instruction how to fill in the forms
• - Detailed information on reallocated amounts shall be indicated in Budget Reallocation Table only (excel file);
• - The Form 3 has been cancelled.