East-West Forum Project

The co-operation in the BSR is strengthening However, the participation of Russia in INTERREG has hardly been satisfactory in the

previous years Important movements were done in Russia towards this direction It is clear that the political preconditions for better participation of the Russian regions

in INTERREG III B projects have been settled down, but several constraints still exist:

   low institutional capacity within Russian regions to co-operate transnationally (the responsible for regional development civil servants still need to study the contemporary planning and programming methods based on principle of sustainability and subsidiarity, they need to study the most important pan-Baltic strategic documents and concepts, they need to meet other planners from other BSR regions to be encouraged by their experience),

  lack-of co-operation between different stakeholders horizontally and vertically (no experience how to co-operate effectively, lack of modern tools for fast professional communication),

 lack-of experience on project based implementation of the existing strategic documents, experience how to conceptualise and how to develop the project idea up till implementation phase,

  insufficient knowledge of the potential partners their problems , weak and strong points,

 insufficient understanding among politicians for implementation of existing strategic documents at the project bases.

Project idea Summary

The proposed project – East-West Forum for sustainable development in the Baltic Sea Region – will involve practitioners and trainers in the field of regional development from four BSR countries. The target group are professionals (civil servants,experts) and politicians from regional and local authorities of the North-West of Russia. The Forum will work as an arena for exchange of knowledge and experiences in the field of spatial and regional (sustainable) development to stimulate partnerships and increase the possibilities for co-operation and networking between North-West regional authorities and BSR countries.

        provide an exchange of experience in strategic planning and policy making and stimulate partnerships between Russian officials, experts and European counterparts, and representatives of donor programs and agencies;

        professional links, networking among Russian and foreign participants and their institutions, exploiting advanced Internet technologies (conference on municipal GIS for BSR countries).

        strengthening Institutional Framework and Regional Development Agencies Network in BSR as an effective instruments for reinforcing sustainable economic development of the regions

 

Main implemented steps

New impulse for enhancing of co-operational activity has been done by the international

seminar “Baltic Sea Region Interregional Co-operation: New Opportunities for North-West

Russian Participation” which had taken place in Saint Petersburg on May 2001. The strategic

objective of the seminar was to facilitate partnerships with the North-West regions of

Russia by generating joint projects within the new phase of the transnational EU Interreg

programme in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR Interreg III B).

Among other general objectives of the seminar were the following: - to enhance the understanding of EU spatial and regional co-operation programmes and of the VASAB 2010 Plus Strategy among Russian partners;- to increase the knowledge of potential project partners about the objectives and procedures of the Interreg III B programme for the Baltic Sea Region (practical guidelines);- to inform about options and ways for Russian Regions to get involved in the Interreg III B programme.

The other practical result of the seminar is setting up of the new instrument of advisory status – BSR Interreg IIIB Russian national sub-committee (RNSC). This body activity aims for involvement of regional and local authorities responsible for regional and local development and spatial planning, as well as for involvement of the economic and social partners and non governmental organisations in the implementation of the European Initiative BSR Interreg IIIB. This body has an important role in carrying out of the proactive approach i.a. through information and support to project generation and development.  As it was decided, RNSC will deal with VASAB activity too.

MAKING THE CROSS-BORDER

CO-OPERATION WORKSeminar

20-21.11. 2001St. Petersburg, Pushkin

(Tsarskoe Selo)

Practical guide on BSR Interreg IIIB Programme for potential Russian partners

was published in September (part 1) in Russian language as one of practical results.

Project idea of EW Forum, presented on two Partner search Forums and other meetings (including CSD

VASAB meeting in Stockholm) attracted new

partners including Nordregio

Nordregio project  Small Pilot project aimed at writing a "state-of-the-art" report on Russian spatial planning to be published in slightly different versions in English and Russian. It should be seen as one step on the way of preparation for a larger project.  

First Draft Concept for EWF have been

elaborated with help of VASAB Secretariat for

TACIS Small CBC Programme

Objectives The main objective of the project is to prepare Russian North West stake holders to better

participation in the common BSR co-operation and projects. This should :  strengthen the grass-root involvement of Russia in the Baltic problems and issues

counterbalancing possible negative results of EU enlargement (the problem of such possible negative results was pointed out in the speech of the Russian Foreign Minister Mr Igor S. Ivanov at the 11th Ministerial Session of the CBSS on 5-6 March 2002 in Kaliningrad),

 contribute to better implementation of the Northern Dimension Action programme of EU,

 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 behaviours to the more entrepreneurial ones (orientation towards financial engineering, acquisition of external grants, inventing/conceptualising and building of transnational projects).

 ensure involvement of the North West Russia in the economic and social development of the BSR,

 create better climate among the citizen of North-West Russia towards EU enlargement and more vivid EU presence in the BSR.

List of target groups The following groups will be targeted by the project:  civil servants in the North West Russia (Kalinigrad, Novgorod, Pskov and Leningrad, Murmańsk Oblast, Karelia and St. Petersburg) responsible for regional and spatial development,  local and regional politicians,  local experts from North-West Russia able to assist civil servants and politicians in moving their developmental approach towards the “project” track. Through these three groups also the broad public should be affected and influenced . The project should also influence indirectly local NGOs and business sector (mainly by teaching civil servants how to co-operate with this partners).

Reasons for the selection of the target groupsThe above mentioned groups were targeted for the following reasons:    civil servants – they should know how to translate the strategic objectives of their regions/municipalities into concrete activities with participation of international partners, they should initiate and facilitate the process of building of common projects, operate the projects if necessary, and make conclusions out of them,    local and regional politicians - they are essential for providing a political and financial support and for what is the most important for ensuring that the project result will continue after the project is formally finished,     local experts – they are important for conceptualisation of the project ideas, for avoiding overlaps, for ensuring innovativnes of approach, for guiding the civil servants with regard to external funds acquisition.     broad public should be targeted for building the popular support for decentralised method of implementation of strategic documents of regions and municipalities.

Relevance of the project to the target groups The project is relevant for all target groups:    civil servants – it upgrades their professional skills, it furnishes them with concrete people to people contacts with colleagues having similar responsibilities in different BSR countries,    local and regional politicians - it shows them how to make their own political success out of international co-operation, it straighten their influence on over-all development of the BSR (they participate on equal footing with their counterparts from EU and accession countries and practically decide about developmental priorities for the BSR),      local experts – it strengthen their role in the developmental process hopefully by that also contributing to better accountability of the developmental processes in the North West Russia. 

Activities The following activities will be chosen for project implementation   transfer of knowledge, training of personnel including training of trainers and study visits   establishment of best practice and procedures   establishment of advisory and development functions   thematic information seminars,    development of information materialIn particular strengthening institutional capacity of the North West Russia requires training, access to best practices as a point of departure for project development, establishment of efficient advisory functions with regard to project development, building up a political support for project based approach to development.This approach in a natural way will attract public to the developmental processes, now discourage by the omnipotence of the local and regional authorities.Methods of implementation 1.Workshops 2.Study visit3.Pilot projects Preparation of the political decisions and changing the existing administrative routines and procedures

Meeting of the North-West Russian regions (key politicians and experts) with VASAB representatives (June 21st,2002,

Saint-Petersburg) ;The main task of that meeting was the discussion of an issue of North-West

Russia' participation in BSR transnational activities in the field of Spatial Planning

Minutesof a meeting of the North-West Russian regions 21 June 2001, Pushkin, Kochubey Palace  

Discussion of the East-West Forum Project Decision made: recognize the critical importance and necessity of participating in the East-West Forum. Representatives from northwest regions confirmed their willingness to participate in the preparation/submission of joint applications to TACIS Micro and TACIS CBC SPF.The meeting decided to apply to CSD VASAB 2010: for political and financial support to the entire project, as well as to its specific elements (applications to TACIS and Interreg Programs); for aid in selecting application partners and in project implementation; and for personal participation of CSD members in forum events.

The workshop expected results: a) improvement of the East-West Forum project concept

b) ensuring the CSD/BSR support for the project application to TACIS and INTERREG

c) better incorporation of the East-West Russia spatial development priorities into the CSD/BSR work Plan for years to come.

VASAB Future Activities

- Setting up Task Force for North-West Russia Regions East-West Forum TACIS application elaboration (as it was done for Kaliningrad for example)

- Political support - Help in partner searching activities -

getting partners on board- Expertize transfer from interested

countries - members - Fundraising activities

Interreg III B• Seed Money application 2002

• Project Application 2003 - 2004

TACIS• Micro application 2002

• Small application CBC SPF 2003

TACIS Micro Project application TACIS Micro will involve7 North-West regions and 2 EU-countries – Finland and Sweden with consulting with support from Nordregio.Main focus – Regional Planning System and decision making Systems, including institutions and practices.  The project approaches a group of 14 key persons of North West Russian Regions who deal with regional planning and prepared of decisions, which affect widely the social and economic development of the region.The participants are encouraged to identify the main issues and urgent needs the North West Russian authorities in reforming and improving the existing systems of regional development planning, to learn the EU best practices and experience.

Russian participation in the BSR INTERREG IIIB projects:  DECEMBER 2001Out of 40 projects submitted to JS, 13 indicated Russian partners.- Steering Committee approved 6 projects and 3 of them indicated Russian participation in the project.

0

10

20

30

40

IR3B BEL EST LT LV RU PL

applicationssubmitted inOct.2001

applicationsforassesment

applicationsapproved inDec. 2001

Russian participation in the BSR INTERREG IIIB projects:MAY 2002 Out of 58 applications submitted to JS, 53 indicted E-BSR partners in the projects:

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

IR3B BEL EST LT LV PL RU

In 58 submitted Belarus Estonia Latvia Lithuania Poland Russia

Number of projects 3 33 27 25 30 28

Number of partners in total

6 70 45 41 62 53

■ Project submitted■ Project approved

Opening the workshop