By signing the Joint Declaration in November 1978 in Venice, representatives of provinces, regions and republics confirmed the establishment of the Alps-Adriatic Working Community. Today the Community comprises 17 lands and regions from seven countries: Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland. Slovenia and Croatia, which have not yet established regions, participate at state level, while other members are individual regions and provinces.

The aim of the Working Community is to address areas of common interest and co-ordinate co-operation at expert level. The Alps-Adriatic Working Community deals in particular with the following areas: agriculture, forestry, economy, tourism, environmental protection, cultural relations, and regional planning and co-operation in the fields of sport, health care and youth. The Republic of Slovenia participates in all working bodies of the Working Community, presiding over two working groups - regional planning and youth - and co-presiding over the working group on sports. Members of the Alps-Adriatic Working Community also co-operate in the Alpe-Adria Public Libraries and Alpe Adria Cultural Network projects. The latter project aims to create a portal (http://www.culturalpeadria.net) involving vocational training institutions, universities, museums, theatres and cultural institutions of a wide-ranging nature. In the period from 2004 to 2006, the Working Community was presided over by the Hungarian County of Baranya. In 2006 the meeting of the Working Group on Youth of the Working Community took place in Ljubljana. A subsequent meeting of the Commission of Executive Officers and the Plenary Assembly in Klagenfurt approved proposals for structural reform, which took effect in July 2006.