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BALTIC SEA TRANSNATIONAL COOPERATION: RU PERSPECTIVE Irina Karelina Leontief Centre Director General, BSR PROGRAMME MONITORING COMMITTEE MEMBER Belarus Denmark Estonia Finland Germany Latvia Lithuania Norway Poland Russia Sweden Baltic Sea Region – Strategic for EU-RUSSIA Cooperation : • 8 EU Member States: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, northern parts of Germany • Norway • NORTH-WEST REGIONS OF RUSSIA • Belarus • 100 million inhabitants • 11 languages How transnational cooperation in the Baltic Sea has been developing? Involvement of Russia in transnational cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region is changing depending on the available instruments: BSR INTERREG II C: 45 PROJECTS/15 with participation of RU PARTNERS mainly as observers BSR INTERREG IIIB NEIGHBOURHOOD PROGRAMME 2000-2006 :129 PROJECTS /78 with participation of RU PARTNERS integrating two different political agendas and financing instruments of ERDF and TACIS CBC BALTIC SEA REGION PROGRAMME 2007-2013: Russian organisations participate in 48 projects out of 65 approved projects in three calls in the status of associated organisations without ENPI funding BSR INTERREG IIIB NEIGHBOURHOOD PROGRAMME 2000-2006 fully demonstrated the benefits from both EU and non-EU countries : 129 projects, 78 with participation of Russian partners, 29 projects with external TACIS funding 3000 partners from Baltic regions, including Partners 224 Russian BSR INTERREG III B PROGRAMME 2000 – 2006 : Russian regional and local authorities - leaders among Russian partners Local and Regional Authorities Professional Associations Research and Education Institutions Regional and Local State Organizations Other BSR INTERREG III B PROGRAMME 2000 – 2006: Benefits from both EU and non-EU countries: strengthen the grass-root involvement of Russia in the Baltic problems and issues, better tackle the East-West divide and create better climate among the citizens of NorthWest Russia towards EU enlargement bring new economic stimuli to the development of the North West part of Russia thanks to increasing face to face international contacts at local and regional level in the framework of concrete project, encourage Russian regional and local decision-makers to change their developmental patterns and behaviors to the more entrepreneurial ones (orientation towards financial engineering, inventing/conceptualizing and building of transnational projects), ensure involvement of NW Russia in the economic and social development of the BSR, contribute to better implementation of the Northern Dimension Action Programme. BALTIC SEA REGION PROGRAMME 2007-2013: Priorities and quality focus Priority 1. Fostering innovations Priority 3. Baltic Sea as a common resource RU CONTRIBUTION: CREATIVE INDUSTRIES To make the Baltic Sea region an attractive place to invest, work and live in Priority 2. External and internal accessibility Priority 4. Attractive and competitive cities and regions RU CONTRIBUTION: SOCIAL AGENDA BALTIC SEA REGION PROGRAMME 2007-2013 The first call for proposals (25 February – 30 May 2008) o 84 applications out of 110 involved Russian actors that requested in total 31.12 million EUR! o 24 approved projects , including 19 with RU participation 48 out of 65 projects approved in three calls attract RUSSIAN ACTORS to their partnerships as associated organizations. Russian organisations demonstrated high interest in participation in joint transnational cooperation projects in the Baltic Sea Region, even with no funding available for their participation. ALL RUSSIA STRATEGIC PLANNING LEADERS FORUM • BSR Transnational Cooperation– the key Action of the Forum International Agenda since 2001 • The participants of the BSR FORUM roundtable (which are federal, regional and local authorities, NGO, academia) expressed their big concern that Russia did not join the Baltic Sea Region Programme; • The participants of the BSR roundtable recommend to the Government of Russia to take an active role and undertake practical steps for reestablishment of the partner status of Russian organisations in the Baltic Sea Region programme and start negotiation process for the future programming period BALTIC SEA POLICY-DIALOGUE SEMINAR focused on realization of EU Baltic Sea Strategy, European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), results and perspectives of BSR Programme 2007-2013 IV INTERNATIONAL ROUND TABLE ON EUROPEAN COOPERATION FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT devoted to the celebration of the 40 years of Association of European Border Regions (AEBR). GREENING CITIES AND REGIONS session with presentation of best international practices and Green Growth regional and local policies , cooperation projects for sustainable development www.forumstrategov.ru Thank you ! www.eu.baltic.net www.forumstrategov.ru