Buskerud County Some facts Number of inhabitants 254 634 per 31.12.2008. Number of inhabitants per km2 18. Area 14,927 km2. GDP per inhabitant 87, Norway=100. Dispersion of industries Agricuture and Forestry 2 %. Industry 14 %. Services 84 %. Number of municipalities: 21 County capital Drammen.

CONTACT Contact address: Buskerud fylkeskommune Postboks 3563 3007 Drammen Norway E-mail: postmottak@bfk.no Tel. +47 32 80 85 00 Contact persons: International: Kåre Henning Tel. +47 32 80 87 25 E-mail: kare.henning@bfk.no Education: Jan-Helge Atterås E-mail: jan-helge.atteras@bfk.no Regional Development: Kjersti Bærug Hulbakk E-mail: Kjersti-Barug.Hulbakk@bfk.no

From the Fjords to the Mountains
Buskerud County stretches from the western part of the Oslo fjord to the central mountain plateaus. The county offers coastlines, city centres, valleys, forests and mountains. Buskerud can be described as the county stretching from the fjords to mountains. The county borders to eight other counties: adjacent to our cooperating partners of Telemark and Vestfold, with Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane to the west, Oppland to the north, and Oslo, Akershus and Østfold (the Oslo fjord) to the east. The county is an important junction for traffic southwards (to southern Norway and Stavanger) and westwards to Bergen.
There are a number of significant cultural institutions located in Buskerud such as the Blaavarveverket in Modum and the silver mines in Kongsberg.

Drammen Theatre is one of Norway's most beautiful theatre buildings and was originally built in 1869. After a devastating fire, the theatre was rebuilt in the same original style.

Vikersundbakken is northern Europe's largest ski jumping slope and is also located in Buskerud.

On a Norwegian scale, the county (especially the southern part) is a significant and central location for industry. Buskerud houses impressive export related engineering industry and has some of the country’s strongest competence environments for high-tech industry located in Kongsberg as well as traditional woodworking industry such as Norske Skogs company "Follum" in Ringerike. Buskerud is one of the largest "tourist" counties in Norway with over 100 hotels and one million guests per year.

Buskerud County Municipality
While the term county (fylke) denotes the geographical area, the county council (fylkesting) is the democratically elected body, with responsibilities for public welfare in the county.

Public administration in Norway has a 3-level structure with the following elements: central government, county government and municipal government. The welfare of the individual is closely bound up with the activities of the county and municipal governments. Norway is divided into 19 counties (fylker) and more than 400 municipalities (kommuner).

Buskerud County Municipality is led by a county council which is elected every 4 years. The county municipality is responsible for upper secondary education, regional development and planning, culture and cultural monument protection, public transport and business development.

Political structure
The County Council is the principal elected body. The council is directly elected every 4 years, and is composed of 43 representatives.

They meet at least four-six times a year to decide on matters of principle and overriding importance, including budgetary and financial planning. An economic plan forms the basis for the activities of the county council over the next four years. The annual budget is binding for county council activities.

The County Executive Board
The county council elects 13 representatives fróm among its members to form the County Executive Board. This body meets at least once a month to make decisions and recommendations in all matters unless otherwise provided by statute.

The County Principal Standing Committees
There are three principal standing committees whose members are elected by the county council. These committees provide the political leadership for the county council's main activities:

• The Committee for Education
• The Committee for Regional Development
• The Committee for Culture

In addition there is a County Committee for Administrative Affairs which has a managerial function vis-a-vis the employees.

The Chairman of the County Council

The Chairman of the County Council (or mayor) is the chief political representative of the county council. Besides having many other political functions, the mayor presides over the County Council and the County Executive Board.

Roger Ryberg - chairman 2007 - 2011


Administrative structure
The central county administration and the service institutions implement the political decisions made by the county council. The head of the county administration is the Chief County Executive.

The County Executive and the County Directors

As the administrative head of the county council, the Chief County Executive leads, coordinates and supervises all administrative and economic activities in the whole county council. The Chief County Executive is also responsible for all aspects related to county planning and service efficiency. He, his directors and departments also have important functions vis-a-vis the political structure, e.g. by preparing and presenting proposals and reports to the county council and the County Executive Board.

Runar Hannevold - County Executive


The Departments
The departments contribute support to the County Executive and the county directors. They are:

• Department of Education
• Department of Regional Development
• Department of Administration

Buskerud is a member of the following European cooperation organizations:

• Assembly of European Regions (AER)
• Baltic Sea States Sub-regional Co-operation (BSSSC)
• Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR)
• North Sea Commission (NSC)
• Euromontana (mountain regions cooperation)

European cooperating cities/ regions/ exchange agreements:
* Pärnu County (Estonia)
* Obrenovac Municipality (Serbia)