The International Visegrad Fund was founded by the Visegrad countries: the Czech Republic, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Poland, and the Slovak Republic on June 9, 2000.

The Fund is based in Bratislava. The Fund is a legal entity.

The governing bodies of the Fund are:

• - Council of Ambassadors and Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs,

• - Executive Director,

• - Secretariat

The purpose of the Fund is to promote development of closer cooperation among V4 countries and their representation in other countries through grant support of:

• - cultural cooperation,

• - scientific research and exchange, educational cooperation,

• - youth exchanges,

• - cross-border cooperation,

• - tourism.

One of the main goals of the Fund is to promote projects which help to develop civil society.

Programs ran by the Fund are:

• Small Grants,

• Standard Grants,

• Strategic Grants,

• scholarships.

The Fund supports projects in such fields as:

• - cultural cooperation (festivals, publications),

• - scientific research and cooperation (conferences, publications, research),

• - education (seminars, summer schools),

• - youth exchanges (sports, educational and cultural events for children and young people),

• - cross-border cooperation (projects implemented by two countries connected with cross-border regions situated no further than 50 km from the border between the countries),

• - promotion of tourism (guides, presentations, fairs).