EastWest Forum Project

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East-West Forum Project
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• 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.

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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
•  

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Main implemented steps
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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).
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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.
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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.
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MAKING THE CROSS-BORDER CO-OPERATION
WORKSeminar20-21.11. 2001St. Petersburg,
Pushkin (Tsarskoe Selo)
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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.
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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
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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.  
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First Draft Concept for EWF have been elaborated
with help of VASAB Secretariat for TACIS Small
CBC Programme
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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.

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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, Murmansk 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).
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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.
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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. 
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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
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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
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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.
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• 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.

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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

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Interreg III B

• Seed Money application 2002
• Project Application 2003 - 2004

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TACIS

• Micro application 2002
• Small application CBC SPF 2003

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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.
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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.
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Russian participation in the BSR INTERREG IIIB
projectsMAY 2002 Out of 58 applications
submitted to JS, 53 indicted E-BSR partners in
the projects
Project submitted Project approved
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Opening the workshop