The 'Euroregion Niemen' Association has been operating since 27 November 1997 and brings together 32 local governments from the Podlaskie and Warmian-Masurian voivodeships. In the period 2001-2014, the Association managed EU funds totalling €23.4 million, which were used to finance 478 cross-border cooperation projects in areas such as social and economic development, tourism, environmental protection and local democracy. The Association acts as the National Office of the Euroregion Niemen Transnational Union, which covers the border regions of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation. Since 2012, the Association has been working towards the development of the social economy in the Suwalski sub-region, including the building of partnerships between local governments, businesses and entities operating in the field of social economy. In 2017, it joined the consortium of the Podlaskie Centre for Social Economy Support, which provides financial support for the establishment of social enterprises.