Slovenia's Cohesion and Regional Development Minister Aleksander Jevsek announced in the northern Croatian town of Varazdin on Tuesday new Interreg projects between Slovenia and Croatia, worth €40 million.

Interreg is one of the key EU instruments supporting cross-border cooperation through project financing.

Slovenia is Croatia’s most important partner in Interreg projects and a new call for projects, to be made public on 24 March, will make more than €40 billion available to the two countries, Jevsek said.

“Even though small, Interreg projects are beautiful, they are implemented by local communities which then take pride in them,” said Jevsek, who before his appointment as minister served as the mayor of Murska Sobota, so he discussed with officials in Varazdin his experience regarding the absorption of EU funds.

He noted that people on both sides of the border had cooperated on numerous projects so far, mentioning also the friendly relations between Murska Sobota, Ptuj and some other Slovenian municipalities with Varazdin, and underlining the importance of the Schengen border no longer being between Slovenia and Croatia.

“It is important for people crossing the border on a daily basis, for business, industries and for the development of both countries. I am therefore very happy that we have agreed today to try to plan and implement some projects together, for the benefit of citizens on both sides of the border,” said Jevsek.

Varazdin Mayor Neven Bosilj said it was very important for Varazdin to learn from Slovenia’s experience as Slovenia had been a member of the EU longer than Croatia, “and that will help us be more efficient.”

“We have plans for several projects regarding the green infrastructure and gastronomy, and we discussed possibilities for applying with those projects,” he said.