V Annual International Conference "CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION: THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, THE EUROPEAN UNION AND NORWAY"

On 28-29 September 2009 in St.-Petersburg the anniversary V-th Annual International Conference «Cross-Border Cooperation: the Russian Federation, the European Union and Norway» was held.

The event united more than 250 specialists working in the sphere of cross-border cooperation from 11 countries of Baltic and Barents Sea States. Among them: leading Russian and international experts, representatives of national governments, regional and local authorities of Russia and Border States, institutions of the European Union, international, non- profit and scientific organizations, business companies.
Conference proved once again its status as the leading annual meeting-place for specialists, politicians and the participants of cross-border cooperation and covered the most topical questions.

The Conference was organized by the Ministry for Regional Development of the Russian Federation, Office of the Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation to the North-West Federal District, Government of the Leningrad Oblast, North-West Development and Investment Promotion Agency. The event was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Delegation of the European Commission to Russia, Nordic Council of Ministers, Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

In the opening of the conference Ambassador of the Republic of Iceland to the Russian Federation B.Ásgeirsson, Acting Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Russia P.Vandoren, Deputy Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation to the North-West Federal District E.Lukyanov took part.

Traditionally legislative and institutional regulation of cross-border cooperation as the necessary factor for its development became one of the most important topics. Such issues as current situation and prospects of federal law of the Russian Federation on cross-border cooperation and the necessary improvement of the concept on cross-border cooperation development of Russia were considered. Important part of the discussions was the opinions and views of cross-border regions on the topic.

Key question of the conference was co-financing of the cross-border projects by Russia and the European Union. Due to the information presented at the conference the Russian Federation should sign all financial obligations till the end of the year 2009. It will establish equal cooperation between Russia and EU and will enable application of funds provided by the European side within the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). Also during one of the sessions the possibilities of financing cross-border projects by the international organizations such as Nordic Council of Ministers, Nordic Investment Bank, Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) were presented.

Within the session "Cooperation without borders" Ministers and Deputy Ministers responsible for cross-border cooperation discussed wide range of topics among which results, obstacles and prospects for cooperation, creation of favorable conditions and mechanisms for effective interaction in solving cross-border cooperation issues as well as possibilities of joint planning of border territories development. In the discussion took part Minister for Regional Development of the Russian Federation V.Basargin, Minister for Regional Affairs of the Republic of Estonia S.V.Kiisler, Minister of Regional Development and Local Government of the Republic of Latvia E.Zalāns, Permanent Under-Secretary of State of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy of Finland H.Aurasmaa, Vice-Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania S.Šiupšinskas.

International experts (Director General of the Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière H.-G.Clev, Director of the Institute of International Sociology of Gorizia A.Gasparini, Secretary General of the Association of European Border Regions M.Guillermo) presented results of studies on creating methodological bases for evaluation of efficiency of cross-border cooperation between Russia, European Union and Norway.

During the session "Forms of cross-border cooperation" different existent and perspective forms, peculiarities of its functioning and its influencing on socio-economic development of the border territories were considered. There was presented the practice of organization of such forms as Euroregions (on the examples of the projects Baltic Euroregional Network and Baltic Euroregional Network - East), centers of cross-border cooperation (on the example of «Khorgos» International Center of Boundery Cooperation» JSC, Kazakhstan), European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) (practice of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union), cross-border clusters (on the example of Russian-Estonian project EstRuCluster).

Traditionally during each year conference special attention is paid to cross-border cooperation of different border subjects of Federation of North-West Russia. The focus of the Conference 2009 was on the experience, peculiarities and further prospects of cross-border cooperation of the Leningrad oblast - one of the prime examples among border regions in Russia. During the session devoted to this topic the representatives of the Government of the Leningrad oblast and their partners from the border states presented their experience.

Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) are the resource of border territories development. Special session on SMEs development was organized within the Conference. Among key questions of this session were the consideration of current situation with SME development, role of SMEs in the socio-economic development of the border territories, factors influencing the level of entrepreneurial activity in the conditions of cross-border region, creation of favorable climate for SME activity and others. Representatives of the authorities and business support organizations described the opportunities for SME support, including joint Russia-European projects.

In the centre of attention of the participants of the session on promotion of cooperation between border regions was the wide range of questions and initiatives among which peculiarities of higher educational programmes for preparation specialists for cross-border cooperation, innovative and efficient forms of cooperation of higher educational institutions of the border regions, quality assurance of joint programmes of higher educational institutions of the border regions, enhancement of academic mobility, academia-Business cooperation as a resource for development of border territories, mutual diplomas and qualification recognition in Russia, EU and Norway.

During the conference four bilateral negotiations were held.  Minister for Regional Development of the Russian Federation V.Basargin and Deputy Minister M.Travnikov met their colleagues from Latvia. Estonia, Finland and Lithuania.

Within the Conference the session of the Coordination Council on cross-border and interregional cooperation under the Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation to the North-West Federal District was held.

The Conference history began in the year 2005. In the previous years the Conference was held in different border subjects of Federation of the North-West Federal District: St.Petesburg (2005), Petrozavodsk (2006), Kaliningrad (2007), Pskov (2008), St.Petersburg (2009). The format of the event has changed from the round table in 2005 with 80 participants to the international Conference with more than 200 delegates (2007-2009). Over 5 year history more than 1000 participants attended the conference. Conference became a recognized site for meeting of actors and stake-holders of cross-border cooperation, multi-faceted exchange of opinions on the most topical questions and elaboration of recommendations on its further development.

The suggestions of the participants of the conference will be systemized and presented within one document "Recommendations of the conference participants on cross-border cooperation development". This document will be available on this web-site as well as the brochure with the abstracts of the conference.

We thank all the participants and partners of the conference!