INFORMEST was established by the Italian Law no. 19/1991 and legally founded in December 1992 by the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto Region and by the Italian Trade Commission.
Informest main mission is the promotion of economic cooperation and provision of strategic and operative support to: the northeast Italy, the countries of Central and Southwest Europe, the countries of the former Soviet Union, China and Asia.
Informest is also one of the four national agencies for cooperation in the area of Southeast Europe (L. 84/01). Informest is located in Gorizia, very close to the border between Italy and Slovenia. Informest is also the General Secretariat of the first Italian-Slovenian EGTC "GO"- www.euro-go.eu/.
Informest deals with projects for transnational cohesion, on behalf of Public Administration,with a particular focus on the Eastern European and Western Balkans countries, since it has deep knowledge of the economic context and long lasting and valuable partnerships with national/regional/local authorities and development actors, thanks to a large experience in capacity building projects, regional and local development twinning in particular.
Topics of Informest projects in South East European Countries are assistance to public institutions in pre-accession countries and support to EU Integration Process, improvement of entrepreneurial environment, integrated programming and public-private partnership building for territorial development, enhancement of attractiveness towards FDIs, tourism development strategy, support in adoption of EU standards and legislation and absorption capacity of local bodies.
Informest counts on 19 people as permanent staff composed by project managers, project officers, analysts specialised in EU issues and geopolitcs as well as administrative and financial mangers with strong command of EU Contracting rules. Informest is also recognised as Mandated Body in Twinning projects.