In October 2004 the Polish government has signed two agreements, which provide access to additional, beside European Structural and Cohesion Funds, a non-repayable sources of foreign assistance: Memorandum of Understanding Financial Mechanism for the implementation of the European Economic Area and the Memorandum of Understanding for the implementation of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. Three EFTA countries are the donors: Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Poland has received the amount of 533.51 million euros which is to be used in the years 2004-2009. Financial resources of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area are available for projects in the following six priority areas:

• environment protection, including the human environment, through, inter alia, pollution reduction and promoting renewable energy sources,
• sustainable development promotion through the better use and management of resources,
• protection of european cultural heritage, including public transport and urban renewal,
• development of human resources through, inter alia, promotion of education and training, strengthening the local institutions and its potential in the field of administration or the public service, and strenghtening democratic processes, health care and child care,
• health care and child care,
• scientific research.

Funding under the Norwegian Financial Mechanism may support the activities under of all six priorities of the EEA Financial Mechanism, and on the principles of primacy in the following four priority areas:

• implementation of the Schengen regulation, supporting of the National Schengen Action Plans, as well as strengthening the judiciary,
• environment protection, with special emphasis on strengthening the administrative capacity for implementation of the provisions relevant to the implementation of investment projects,
• regional policy and cross-border activities,
• technical assistance in the implementation of the acquis communautaire.

Funds of the both Financial Mechanisms are also intended to the following block grants:

• Initial Capital Fund,
• Non-Governmental Organization Fund,
• Polish-Norwegian Research Fund,
• Scholarship and Training Fund,
• Technical Assistance Fund,
• and an additional, established in 2006, the Cultural Exchange Fund.

Swiss-Polish Cooperation Programme

On the 20 December 2007 Minister of the Regional Development Elżbieta Bienkowska signed an agreement on implementing Swiss-Polish Cooperation Program. This program is a form of non-repayable assistance granted by Switzerland to Poland and other 9 Member States of the European Union, which joined the EU on 1 May 2004. Signing this document means allocating more than 1 billion Swiss francs for the ten new Member States. Almost half of this assistance (approximately CHF 489 million, or about 310 million euros) will be allocated to support for our country. The Swiss aid goal is to reduce socio-economic disparities existing between Poland and the developed EU countries and also differences on the territory of Poland - between urban centers and poorly developed regions. Starting Swiss-Polish Cooperation Program is planned for the second quarter of 2008

The projects which can be supported:

• security, stability, reform support: initiatives for regional development of the suburban and less developed regions, increasing the protection of the European Union’s eastern borders,
• environment and infrastructure: reconstruction, rebuilding and expansion of the environmental infrastructure and improvement of the environment (including solid waste management, renewable energy systems, improvement of energy efficiency), improvement of the public transport systems, biodiversity and ecosystem protection and support for cross-border environmental initiatives,
• the private sector: improvement of the business environment and access to capital for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), development of the private sector and export promotion of SMEs,,
• social development and human resources: health service (including prevention and health promotion campaigns and improvement of social welfare), research and development (including the Scholarship Fund, research projects). 

Switzerland has allocated for Poland a total amount of 489 million Swiss Francs.