Suchergebnisse

Municipal international cooperation is the main tool that enables municipalities to use the good practice of foreign countries, share mutually important information in the fields of government, economics, social protection, environment protection and other. Municipal international cooperation that is legalized by the agreements of local institutions, unites the whole world, encourages communities to communicate, increases mutual trust between nations and develops a dialogue. Despite the fact that thousands of city cooperation agreements are signed world-wide (more than 39 thousand of co-major and medium- sized cities had such agreements in Europe in 2010), the international relations of the local communities have not been extensively researched in this field. We have to agree with the researcher H. Buis (2009) who expressed the view that the local authorities having the ability and competencies to successfully influence and improve the cooperation process could pay more attention and put more resources to the field. The aim of the article is to analyze the situation and development tendencies of municipal international cooperation in Šiauliai County municipalities. The analysis and systematization of Lithuanian and foreign authors' scientific publications, research results, internet sources, legislation of the Republic of Lithuania and the European Union, and the research on municipal international cooperation in Šiauliai County municipalities under the expert evaluation method, enabled to reveal the peculiarities of cooperation relations establishment and development, evaluate usefulness of the activities and identify problems. [.]

Municipal international cooperation is the main tool that enables municipalities to use the good practice of foreign countries, share mutually important information in the fields of government, economics, social protection, environment protection and other. Municipal international cooperation that is legalized by the agreements of local institutions, unites the whole world, encourages communities to communicate, increases mutual trust between nations and develops a dialogue. Despite the fact that thousands of city cooperation agreements are signed world-wide (more than 39 thousand of co-major and medium- sized cities had such agreements in Europe in 2010), the international relations of the local communities have not been extensively researched in this field. We have to agree with the researcher H. Buis (2009) who expressed the view that the local authorities having the ability and competencies to successfully influence and improve the cooperation process could pay more attention and put more resources to the field. The aim of the article is to analyze the situation and development tendencies of municipal international cooperation in Šiauliai County municipalities. The analysis and systematization of Lithuanian and foreign authors' scientific publications, research results, internet sources, legislation of the Republic of Lithuania and the European Union, and the research on municipal international cooperation in Šiauliai County municipalities under the expert evaluation method, enabled to reveal the peculiarities of cooperation relations establishment and development, evaluate usefulness of the activities and identify problems. [.]