The Fund for Bilateral Relations is managed and coordinated by the National Management Unit of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism (UNG-EEAFM), also known as the National Focal Point, along with the donor country representatives.
The National Focal Point under the EEAFM Implementation Regulation for the period 2014-2021 establishes and chairs the Joint Committee for Bilateral Funds.
This Joint Committee has the overall responsibility of supervising the progress of the implementation of the Fund for Bilateral Relations in order to achieve the goal of strengthening bilateral relations.
It is through the Joint Committee for Bilateral Funds that the bilateral ambitions, the priority areas for bilateral cooperation and the concrete measures and initiatives to be financed by the Fund for Bilateral Relations are determined.
The Joint Committee for Bilateral Funds also has a direct role in the decision of additional allocations of Funds for the Programmes, as well as in the identification of bilateral initiatives beyond the Programmes.
This Committee has representatives of the following entities:
- National Focal Point;
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal;
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway (represented by the Norwegian Embassy in Lisbon);
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iceland;
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Liechtenstein.
All members of the Joint Committee for Bilateral Funds can invite to these meetings representatives of:
- Programmes Operators;
- Donor Programme Partners designated in the MoU;
- Other entities useful to the debate of specific subjects.
Learn more about National Focal Point.