1. Cross roads on 5 borders of Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Russia and Estonia Cross roads on 5 borders of Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Russia and Estonia Latvian office or Euroregion “Country of lakes” Kraslava municipality 4 July, 2012 Kraslava, LATVIA

2. About us Euroregion “Country of lakes”

5. 2012 Belarus – 8 Latvia – 14 Lithuania - 7

6. Attracted financing

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8. Strategic priorities 2008-2013 Social-economical development Development of infrastructure Tourism Evvironment protection

9. Embassies and consulates Lithuanian ministry of Interior Latvian ministry of environment protection and regional governments NGO "Peipsi project, Pskov", Russian Federation Euroregion «Pskov-Livonia» Euroregion “Belovezskaja Puscha” Euroregion “Saule” Krasnogorodskij, Sebezskij, Nevelskij, Kunjinskij, Strugo-Krasnenskij, Usvjatskij districts of Pskov oblast, Rusian Federation Co-operation partners

11. Short history I 1998-first meetings 1999-first CBC project 2000-strategy 2001-culture, business development 2003-Culinary heritage 2005-Discover the Baltic Country of lakes 11

12. Short history and future II 2007-Exciting cycling net 2009-LATLIT TRAFFIC 2010-GREEN INVESTMENTS 2011-CURED BY ANIMALS 2012-2014-ESTLATRUS TRAFFIC, GREEN MAN, NEIGHBOURS ROAD, 3rd STEP 12

13. Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus 13

14. Project example NEIGHBOURS ROAD 14 Total Project budget: EUR 511 755,34 ENPI co- financing: EUR 460 579,80 Project Duration:?? 07/2012 - 05/2013 Activities:Border seminars, 79 info points, reconstructed 2 stages or neighbours’ road in LV and BY, parking place in BY Lead Partner: Kraslava municipality 4 project partners

15. Latvia: Kurzeme, Zemgale, Latgale Covers 65% of the total territory of state Effect on 42% of total state population Lithuania: Klaipėda, Telšiai, Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Utena, Kaunas (adjacent region) Covers 63% of the total territory of state Effect on 61% of total state population Latvia-Lithuania Programme BUDGET: EUR 60 mln. (2007–2013) Shares 588 km of the border between two countries Effect on 3 million people

16. Project example CURED BY ANIMALS 16 Total Project budget: EUR 214 677,00 ERDF co- financing: EUR 182 475,45 Project Duration:11/2010 - 12/2011 Direction:Development of Active and Sustainable Communities Lead Partner: Euroregion “Country of lakes” 17 project partners

17. Where we are? 17 52 cross border cooperation programmes

18. ENPI CBC Land border, Sea Crossing and Sea Basin Programmes 2007 –2013 18

19. Estonia-Latvia-Russia Programme area 19  Estonia Kirde-Eesti, Lõuna-Eesti, Kesk- Eesti;adjoining: Põhja-Eesti  Latvia Latgale, Vidzeme; adjoining: Riga City and Pieriga  Russia Leningrad Region, Pskov Region and Saint Petersburg

20. Priority I Priority I: Socio-economic development Priority is dedicated to strategic development of border region’s competitiveness through support to business and labour market development, improvements in communication networks and exploring region’s potential for tourism as well as maintaining efficient and safe borders. Measures: Measure 1.1 Fostering of socio-economic development and encouraging business and entrepreneurship; Measure 1.2 Transport, logistics and communication solutions; Measure 1.3 Tourism development. 20

21. Priority II Priority II: Common challenges Priority aims at addressing common problems and initiating and continuing joint actions in the areas of common interest on both sides of the border. Measures: Measure 2.1 Joint actions aimed at protection of environment and natural resources; Measure 2.2 Preservation and promotion of cultural and historical heritage and support of local traditional skills; Measure 2.3 Improvement of energy efficiency and promotion of renewable energy sources. 21

22. Priority III Priority III: Promotion of people to people cooperation Priority is focussing on small scale activities for improving the cooperation of the border region supporting wide range of activities to be performed by regional and local municipalities and various actors of the society, which have been identified as being of crucial importance to a more integrated region. Measures: Measure 3.1 Development of local initiative, increasing administrative capacities of local and regional authorities; Measure 3.2 Cooperation in spheres of culture, sport, education, social and health. 22

23. Background of the project 23

24. LATLIT TRAFFIC 24

25. Project example LATLIT TRAFFIC 25 Approximate total Project budget: EUR 3 720 307.84 ERDF co- financing: EUR 3 162 261.66 Project Duration:01/2009 - 01/2011 Direction:Improvement of Internal and External Accessibility of the Border Region EUSBSR:Priority area 11 To improve internal and external transport links Lead Partner: Euroregion “Country of lakes” 16 project partners

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27. ESTLATRUS TRAFFIC 27 Increasing traffic system’s capability within EE-LV- RU international importance transport corridors

28. Project example ESTLATRUS TRAFFIC 28 Total Project budget: 1 876 570,00EUR ENPI co- financing: 1 688 913,00 EUR (90%) Project Duration:04/2012 - 04/2014 Activities:Traffic safety campaigns, improvement of transit road infrastructure Lead Partner: Latvian office or Euroregion “Country of lakes” ~20 project partners

29. Partnership 29

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32. Conclusions I 32 CBC programmes are the succesful tool for the intergration/co- operation of border regions CBC projects are bringing neighbours closer CBC projects strengthenign the EU border because of transparency across the border Cross border communication helps to understand the neighbours Intervence across the border contributes to social – economic development in spite of visa regimes, differences in legislations etc.

33. Conclusions II 33 «Hard» CBC projects contributes to the political intergration/co-operation of border regions at the same time for the sustainable development of border regions atractive for living and visiting Working on common challenges across the border (both «hard» and «soft») gives a lot of unique common opportunities to solve the problem with cross border aproach «Soft» CBC projects strengthening the border regions on the people-to people level, increasing the patriotism on local level, strengthening the national border as well

34. Thank You for attention! Ilze Stabulniece Manager of Latvian office of Euroregion “Country of lakes” Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus Manager of Estonia-Latvia-Russia project “ESTLATRUS TRAFFIC” Brivibas 13, Kraslava LV-5601, Latvia Mob. Tel. +371 29472638 Email: ilze@kraslava.lv 34