25/01/2018 (Agence Europe) – After Poland and Romania (see EUROPE 11799), it is now the turn of the Slovak region of Presov to benefit from aid from the European Commission’s services and experts and the World Bank to help it catch up economically, the Commission announced on Wednesday 24 January. The aim is to help the region develop an action plan to confront its challenges (brain-drain, high youth unemployment, lack of cooperation in innovation between private players and public research centres) and to better focus on its regional assets. The latter include, for example, its geographical position between Poland and Ukraine, many tourist areas, and the existence of a faculty of technology. The action plan in question will be part of a smart specialisation strategy at national level. It should be completed in March 2018, and implemented by the end of March 2019. (PH)