CHIEF Minister Katy Gallagher will present a case study on trans-border cooperation at today’s Council of Australian Governments meeting, in a plan to “partner with neighbouring councils to boost collective buying power and leveraging Canberra’s economic strengths”.

Ms Gallagher said Canberra’s role as a regional centre is an increasing priority for the capital.

“I believe there is potential for using our significant collective regional scale to get greater value for the ratepayer dollars we individually spend on our separate service-related contracts and separate procurement processes,” she said.

“Imagine some of the efficiencies and cost benefits that could be achieved for the region with Canberra acting in partnership with our regional neighbours and not just as smaller individual jurisdictions.

“Whether it be joint infrastructure projects, bulk purchase of our tyres for the trucks that service our roads, or nappies and medical supplies for our hospitals, the buying power of a region with Canberra in the mix is surely worth exploring.”

She said Canberra’s first meeting with the South East Regional Organisation of Councils in two weeks will be a “great step to progressing the work many of our neighbours have started already” and will seek the Council’s agreement “to progress this work urgently”.

“Cross-border communities need to work collaboratively to get maximum bang for their buck — via agreed infrastructure investment requirements, good data collection, even joint submissions to competitive funding programs,” Ms Gallagher said