The relations of these two cities are fairly active.
An official partnership was signed by officials of both capitals back in May
1993, which was reaffirmed also ten years later. Bratislava’s
co-operation with Vienna
is carried out via various cross-border co-operation projects, as well as on a
bilateral and multilateral level. Both cities are partners in implementing the
Euroregion project CENTROPE, as part of which they exchange information about
tourism, the natural environment or transport infrastructure.
Yet, the co-operation between Bratislava
and Vienna has
much greater potential than has been utilised to date. Both cities are central
points in the so-called Golden Triangle, made up of the Euroregion Bratislava–Vienna–Györ.
This region was appraised by a study from the institute Empirica Delasasse from
Cologne as the most prospective region of 461
evaluated regions in Europe. The study took
into consideration factors like qualification of the workforce, costliness, density
of production, environmental quality, transport potential, or the density of
services. The TwinCity model empowered by the close proximity of Bratislava and Vienna
holds unbelievable hidden potential.
To combine forces in the shared economic area of
Vienna-Bratislava is the principal idea of the chambers of commerce on both
sides of the border. This concept has, fortunately, been welcomed also by the
city halls of both cities. The platform was assigned the name of TwinCity, a
brand which should be the distinctive calling card not only of the two cities
themselves, but of the whole Central European region around the Danube. With the extension of the Schengen line, the
border will vanish even more. The TwinCity area of Vienna–Bratislava
will enjoy great success in terms of competition as a production locality with
other European agglomerations, if it strengthens further its economic
integration and the forces of both cities are united.
It is businesses above all that must breathe life into this platform. Austria and Slovakia are natural economic
partners. Austria is the
third biggest foreign investor in Slovakia, the fifth biggest
importer and the fourth most important export destination for Slovak products.
A large part of mutual trade between the two countries, as much as half
according to OECD estimates, occurs in the region around TwinCity.
The spirit of TwinCity is enhanced also by smaller investments, coming
more at present from Austrian businesses in Bratislava than vice versa. The brand of TwinCity is
being promoted also by the Twin City Liner, which shuttles regularly between
the two cities along the Danube, and by the
magazine Twin City Journal.
