NordenBladet — The Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument (TAIEX) funded by the European Union celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. In Finland, the milestone was marked by a publication and a seminar.TAIEX was initially set up in 1996 to provide short-term technical expert assistance to support the then candidate countries from Central and Eastern Europe in their alignment with the EU’s internal market. Since then, the instrument has expanded both thematically and geographically, and is today a global development programme bringing together public administration experts around the world. According to the European Commission’s statistics, more than 40,000 experts have participated in TAIEX activities since 1996, and more than 26,000 events have already been organised.TAIEX from different perspectivesThe national 25th anniversary event was held virtually on 25 November. The event attracted a large number of participants, and included speeches by representatives from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Commission and Finnish TAIEX stakeholders.The opening words at the jubilee seminar were delivered by Matti Anttonen, Permanent State Secretary at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, who stated that TAIEX has over the years been a concrete instrument for Finland to be globally influential. The greetings from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations were conveyed by Francisco López-Menchero, Acting Head of Unit. López-Menchero thanked Finland for its active participation in TAIEX, especially in recent years. After that, Eerikki Vainio, who is the National Contact Point for TAIEX coordination at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, told about Finland’s participation in TAIEX in 1996–2021.
Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi