Assembly of European Regions (AER)

The Assembly of European Regions (AER) is an association gathering European regions with the objective of their presentation and the promotion of their interest within the European institutions. Established on 14 June 1985, it is based on experiences of trans-border collaboration, 9 interregional organizations and the first group of 47 regions. Today the Assembly of European Regions has 250 region members from 25 European countries.

The Istrian Region is the first Croatian region accepted to the AER in 1994. The decision on accepting the Istrian Region to the Assembly of European Regions was made by the Political Committee on 7 October 1994 at its regular annual meeting in Fortezza di Basso (Florence), Italy. The decision was ratified on 1 December 1994 at the regular annual General Assembly in Strasbourg - France.

The President of the Istrian Region Ivan Jakovčić was chosen as the vice president of the AER in 2003. He is also the current president of Committee II of the AER dealing with international issues (relations with the European Council and the European Union), promotion of regionalism, interregional collaboration East-West, relations with the OESS and educational programmes (CENTURIO, Summer School of the AER). The first time he performed the function of the Vice President of the AER was from 1998 to 2000.