The Regional Development Plan 2007-2013

The North-West Regional Development Plan is the fundamental document regarding the need of financing from European funds and from other international and national funds at a regional level. It is the instrument through which the region promotes its priorities and its interests in the economic and social field, representing, at the same time, the contribution of the region to the elaboration of the National Development Plan.
The North-West RDP is elaborated by the Development Office – Planning and Technical Assistance Department of the Agency for Regional Development North-West in a vast partnership framework, established according to Government Decision 1115/2004 regarding the elaboration within partnership of the National Development Plan within the Regional Planning Committee, which took place for a significant period starting with year 2004.
The North-West RDP is composed by the socio-economic analysis of the region, the SWOT analysis and the regional strategy. The method of elaboration of the strategy for the period 2007-2013 consisted of a bottom to top process of analysis of the region’s potential.
Presented in its main stages, the process of elaboration of the 2007-2013 Regional Development Plan was divided as it follows:
· Elaboration of the socio-economic Profile of the North-West Region;
· Identification of the strategic development options;
· Outline of a spatial approach of the development policy;
· Identification of the development poles;
· Functional specialization;
· SWOT analysis;
· Settling a long term vision of the North-West Region;
· Settling the strategy for the period 2007-2013 (objectives, priorities and measures);
· Elaboration of the regional documentation for sectoral programming;
· Projects portfolio;
· Public consultations/debates;
· Approval of the Regional Development Plan in the Council for Regional Development.
The RDP 2007-2013 makes a multi-annual planning of the economic and social development of the region, integrated at a local and sectoral level, based on: the regional sectoral development strategies; the local development strategy; in correlation with the strategic orientations at European Level. The RDP 2007-2013 is also correlated with the priorities of the National Development Plan 2007-2013 and with the Sectoral and Regional Operational Programmes.
The general objective of the 2007-2013 Development Strategy of the North-West Region is the growth of regional economy through polycentric development and functional specialization for the decrease of the intra- and interregional disparities, on an economic, social and environmental level and the growth of the regional living standard.
The general objective can be reached with the support of a series of specific objectives that only in relation to the respect of certain European principles, such as sustainable development, information society, parity of opportunities and trans-border cooperation will conduct to the implementation of the RDP interventions.
The development plan will be updated during the programming period.