The Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region is an autonomous seashore region in northern Italy, which has been enjoying its special status since 1963, thanks to specific geographical, ethnical, and historical conditions. In the west, it borders on the Venetian Region, in the north, on Austria, and in the east, on Slovenia. The region is one of 20 Italian regions, of which only five have autonomous status. The region covers a total area of 7,856 km² and is inhabited by 1.19 million inhabitants. The region’s capital city is Trieste with 200,000 inhabitants.

The autonomous Nitra Region is situated in the south of the Slovak Republic, on the border with Hungary. The region covers a total of 6,343 km² and is inhabited by 710,000 inhabitants. The capital city of the region is Nitra with 88,000 inhabitants.

Cooperation with Lower Austria took on a concrete form through contracts of future cooperation between Vysočina and Lower Austria, the municipalities of Horn and Raabs with Telč, during the Lower Austrian Exposition in 2009: all five partners signed the contract on November 22. The contract stipulates that a part the large traditional exposition will take place in Telč. Thus, for the first time in its history, the exposition will not only step outside the limits of its region, but also the limits of its country.

Another concrete accomplishment is, for example, the October visit of the workers of the Cultural Section of the autonomous Nitra Region, directors of Slovak regional museums, and Slovak conservation historians. Having viewed the Vysočina Region’s important historic sites, they agreed on without hesitation on mutual exchange of concrete exposition, exhibitions, as well as internship for their staff.

Table – Trips abroad of regional representatives in 2006