Baltic Sea Region INTERREG IIIB Neighbourhood Programme INTERREG IIIA North Priority project № NIII-077“Fostering Business Development in Border Areas through Cooperation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Regional Development Agencies / CROSS-BORDER BUSINESS”*
- Project description
- Project partnership
- Project Activities
- Contact information
* The project is co-financed by the European Union BSR INTERREG IIIB Programme
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Project description:
In 2006, the implementation of a wide scale project for fostering cross-border business cooperation started. The project will last for 18 months, until December 2007.
Beside the national and partners’ co-financing, the project has two EU funding sources: ERDF and TACIS. The project’s total costs amount to 395 969 Euro, out of which ERDF covers 129 878.25 Euro, Tacis – 200 029 Euro, but the partners co-finance 66 061.75 Euro.
The aim of the operation is to encourage economic integration of the regions on the border between EU and Russia. Special attention will be paid to building the network among and raising capacity of the business support institutions (branches of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Regional Development Agencies) as well as promoting contacts among business communities in Estonia, Latvia and Russia.
The project will focus upon the following business sectors: food processing, timber processing and machine building. However, it does not exclude involvement of other sectors.
The project consists of 4 Work Packages each of which addresses a specific objective, except for the first work package (WP1), which aims at ensuring that the project meets its objectives and carries out activities within the planned timeframe and estimated budget as well as planning for and providing project’s publicity.
WP2 – “Networking and Capacity Building for Business Support Institutions” is concerned with strengthening the network and capacity of institutions like the regional development agencies, chambers of commerce, information centres so that they can improve and scale-up their activities aimed at fostering cross-border business. Most of the activities are based on seminars, meetings and visits. Some purchase of equipment is planned to improve the technical capacity of the organisations and design and publication of information on starting and running a business in the EU and Russia to improve their delivery of services.
To ensure sustainability (durability) of the established network, the business support institutions are to agree on an action plan for the next 5 years on what common activities and project they will design and implement, also looking at the financing that would be available from the Structural Funds during the next reporting period.
WP3 – “Networking and Capacity Building for Business Community” is directly involving the business communities of the border regions. It has two goals: help entrepreneurs make contacts across the border and increase their knowledge of important aspects around doing business on the other side of the EU external border (legislation, start-up requirements, etc.). This will be achieved through international partner search forums / trade missions in every country and information seminars provided by the business support institutions (as a follow-up to their capacity building activities).
WP 4 – “Awareness Raising of Politicians on Cross-Border Business” will work with the third target group of this project – the politicians. This WP is essentially structured around two networking and experience exchange visits: Latvian and Estonian politicians will visit Pskov, while Russian politicians will embark on a 5-day trip to Latvia and Estonia. It is intended that during the second visit, cooperation agreements on working with promotion of cross-border business will be signed.
Project partnership:
- Lead partner for the ERDF part – Vidzeme Development Agency (Latvia)
- Lead partner for Tacis part – Madona District Council (Latvia)
- Latgale Region Development Agency (Latvia)
- Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (branches of Cēsis, Valmiera, Daugavpils and Rēzekne) (Latvia)
- Valmiera City Council (Latvia)
- Võru County Development Agency (Estonia)
- Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Pskov region (Russia)
- Administration of Pskov Oblast, represented by the State Committee for Economic Development and Property Relations (Russia)
Project activities:
- Experience exchange visits for staff of CCIs and regional development agencies as well as training in business start-up in the EU (Latvia and Estonia) and Russia
- Trade missions in Latvia, Estonia and Russia, with participation of entrepreneurs of all the 3 countries
- Experience exchange trips for politicians of Latvia, Estonia and Russia
Contact information:
ERDF Lead Partner:
Vidzeme Development Agency
Address: Dārza 11, Alūksne, LV -4301, Latvia
Phone/fax: +371 4381350
Director – Jolanta Vjakse
phone: + 371 29471150, e-mail: jolanta@aluksne.lv
Project Coordinator – Sarmīte Slišāne
phone: + 371 2 8377998, e-mail: sarmites@aluksne.lv
Project Financial Manager – Inna Gailiša
phone: + 371 2 6145529, e-mail: guchoinn@inbox.lv
Project Assistant – Inese Dauškane
phone: +371 2 9171426, e-mail: inese.dauskane@aluksne.lv
Tacis Lead partner:
Madona District Council
Address: Saieta laukums 1, Madona, LV-4801
Phone: +371 4860580, fax: + 371 4860581
Project Coordinator – Dace Āriņa
phone: + 371 29294245, e-mail: dace@madona.lv
Project Financial Manager – Lana Saulone
phone: + 371 2 9397840, e-mail: lana@madona.lv
Latgale Region Development Agency
Address: Rīgas 2-38, Daugavpils, LV-5401
Phone/fax: +371 5428111
Director – Māris Bozovičs
phone: + 371 29236783, e-mail: maris.bozovics@latgale.lv
Project Coordinator – Kristīna Stikāne
phone: + 371 28659019, e-mail: kristina.stikane@latgale.lv
Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (branches of Cēsis, Valmiera, Daugavpils and Rēzekne)
Address: Kr.Valdemāra 35, Rīga, LV-1010
Phone: +371 7225595, fax: +371 7820092
Project Coordinator – Kārlis Tomsons
phone: + 371 2 9230481, e-mail: cesis@chamber.lv
Project Coordinator – Juris Sleņģis
phone: + 371 2 9204712, e-mail: valmiera@chamber.lv
Project Coordinator – Vladimirs Nadeždins
phone: + 371 2 9204712, e-mail: daugavpils@chamber.lv
Project Coordinator – Ilva Aleksejeva
phone: + 371 4625241, e-mail: ilva@chamber.lv
Valmiera City Council
Address: Lāčplēša 2, Valmiera, LV-4201, Latvia
Phone/fax: +371 4207165
Project Coordinator – Zenta Iļķena
phone: + 371 2 94554650, e-mail: zenta.ilkena@valmiera.lv
Võru County Development Agency
Address: Jüri 12, Võru 65620, Estonia
Phone/fax: +372 7868367
Director –Tiiu Toots
phone: + 372 7868367, e-mail: tiiu.toots@mv.werro.ee
Project Coordinator –Diana Timošova
phone: + 372 55613340, e-mail: diana.timosova@mv.werro.ee
Pskov Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Address: Sovetskaja 15a, Pskov, 181000, Russia
Phone/fax: +7 8112 160052
President – Vladimir Zubov
phone: +78112223262, e-mail: vladimir@cci.pskov.ru
Project Coordinator – Anna Smirnova
phone: + 88112163883, e-mail: anna.smirnova@cci.pskov.ru
Project Coordinator – Tatyana Troshkova
phone: + 7811223262, e-mail: tatjana@cci.pskov.ru
Administration of Pskov Oblast, represented by the State Committee for Economic Development and Property Relations
Address: Nekrasova 23, Pskov, 180001, Russia
Phone/fax: +7 8112 161766
Project Coordinator – Liubov Kosheleva
phone: + 89113613312, e-mail: prom@obladmin.pskov.ru
Project Coordinator – Tatyana Boyko
phone: + 7911723082, e-mail: boiko@obladmin.pskov.ru
