International partnerships

We work in partnership with several different organisations, both within Kent and internationally. In particular, the county has long-standing links with the Nord-Pas de Calais region in France and Bács-Kiskun county in Hungary and the West Flanders region of Belgium. Recently, links with Nord-Pas de Calais and West Flanders have been strengthened to ensure that Kent is able to act with the French and Belgian local authorities on issues of joint concern and to undertake joint projects under the new Structural Funds Programmes 2007-13 such as Interreg.

The enlargement of the EU on 1 May 2004 also added a new dimension and impetus to the council's development of wider links to the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs).

The American Quadricentennial in 2007 celebrates the anniversary of the first permanent settlement from England (including settlers from Kent) in Jamestown, Virginia. This has underpinned the development of a partnership between Kent County Council and the Commonwealth of Virginia in the USA, with whom a Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 3 June 2005.