North Westphalia and the Netherlands want to strengthen the competitive position of the border region
Economic relations between the East Netherlands and North Westphalia are to be systematically strengthened in the next few years. The regional development agency Oost-NL, the Twente Board and the IHK Nord Westfalen signed an official declaration of intent with this goal on May 18th at the IHK in Münster.
The three organizations want to “work together even more intensively and strategically than before” in order to increase the competitiveness of the border region with the provinces of Overijssel and Gelderland as well as the Münsterland and the Emscher-Lippe region.
IHK President Dr. Benedikt Hüffer and IHK General Manager Dr. Fritz Jaeckel welcomed Wendy de Jong (Managing Director of Oost NL) and Wim Boomkamp (Managing Director of Twente Board) to the signing. The partners emphasized that the German-Dutch border should not represent an obstacle to economic relations. Onno van Veldhuizen (Mayor of the City of Enschede) and Thomas Banasiewicz (General Manager of the Münster Chamber of Crafts) signed as supporters. Münster's mayor Markus Lewe and EUREGIO president Rob Welten had signed in advance as supporters.
The idea for the declaration of intent came about during a visit to Münster by Twente CEO Wim Boomkamp and the mayor of the city of Enschede, Onno van Veldhuizen. As an advisory body for the regional economic structure, with representatives from politics, education and business, Twente Board is an important partner for the IHK North Westphalia. Oost NL, the development agency for Overijssel and Gelderland, was already actively involved in cross-border projects in Münsterland and was therefore invited to take part in this initiative. The declaration of intent is supported by the Euregio, Münster Chamber of Crafts and the twin cities Enschede and Münster.
Twente Board and IHK Nord Westfalen, among other things, want to develop joint events and projects to promote cross-border trade. An example of a project that already has a cross-border target group is the Digital Summit Euregio, which runs online on May 19th with over 500 participants. It is organized jointly by the IHK and Oost NL and brings together companies and researchers in the field of IT and digitalization. Also on the agenda is an investigation into the possibilities of jointly bringing external funding into the region.
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