The Centre of Expertise for Good Governance has launched a new Council of Europe – EU Joint Project on the “Establishment of legal institutional and financial framework at regional county level and capacity building to enhance quality of regional public administration in Lithuania”. The project was prepared at the request of the Lithuanian government and designed in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior. It will support the Lithuanian authorities in improving the legislative and policy framework for regional development, and provide complementary capacity-building to help the staff of the new regional structures prepare for the implementation of the new Lithuanian regional policy. The Council of Europe toolkits on Strategic planning, Local finance benchmarking, and Human resource management will be adapted and used for the regional level of governance.

The first Programme Board meeting on 17 February 2021 will be opened by the Vice-Minister of Interior of Lithuania, Mr Arnoldas Abramavičius. The Board members, including representatives of government, associations, experts, as well as the European Commission and Council of Europe, will discuss the details of the project implementation. The Board will meet on a regular basis to monitor progress and steer the project implementation.