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SwedenFinland We are building our cities together – on the border. Barcelona

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HAPARANDA Area918 km2 Inhabitants Population density11,6 per km2 Unemployment rate14,7 % (2004) Number of companies500 TORNIO Area1227 km2 Inhabitants Population density 19,2 per km2 Unemployment rate14,8 % (2004) Number of companies1 050 x

History of municipal co-operation Started in 1970s in the field of culture 1987 Provincia Bothiens Haparanda- Tornio was set up Now co-operation in all areas of municipal operations

What goes around comes around… 17th century Tornio: an important North- European town of commerce 18th century Sweden-Finland 19th century: Russia takes over Finland, town of Haparanda established th century: Cold War period NATO Warsaw Pact Sweden Finland up to 1990´s: a hard national border between Haparanda and Tornio 1987 Provincia Bothniensis: a co-operation forum for Haparanda & Tornio 21th century: Haparanda and Tornio grows together as one. from 1970´s to 21th century: cooperation has spread into to all levels

- x Forms of co-operation in Haparanda-Tornio Common city council meetings City board meetings Working group meetings Daily contacts between officials and politicians Provincia Bothniensis board Borderless education Common use of facilities Common investments Common arrangements, festivals, cultural and sports events Borderless cultural and sports organisations Common marketing and promotion

Co-operation in education 1978 Agreement on free attendance at Comprehensive school 1989 Language school ( 308 pupils) 1998 Euro senior secondary school (gymnasium) (49 students) Free vocational training across the border Free attendance across the border at Kemi-Tornio polytechnic 2002 Agreement on day care across the border Planning of new borderless combined upper secondary school and vocational training programmes started in spring 2005

Why municipalities co-operating Question of survival Better services for residents at lower cost Development opportunities (E.g on the border) HOW Very strong local political support TRUE partnership culture between authorities

Organisation COVERNMENT 5+5 GOVERNOR SECRETARIAT Workgroup for business and tourism Workgroup for education Workgroup for municipal engineering spatial planning and environment Workgroup for sports and leisure Workgroup On the Border Workgroup for social services and health care Workgroup for culture and youth projects

Problems Limited national and regional support Legal hindrances in establishing an international association of municipalities

Successes On the border project – creating a common town centre right on the border

1995Finland & Sweden join the European Union Nordic idea competition Development plan Realisation plan On the border - process 2003 Building and Marketing

IKEA m2 IKANO –property company m2 ICA m2 Shopping centre Tornio m2 Shopping centre Haparanda m2 Hotel Haparanda200 rooms Hotel Tornio200 rooms Apartmenthouses m2 Haparanda-Tornio police station m2 Estimated manpower need during construction500 pers. /2 years Estimated number of new jobs1 000 – 1 300

Lessons learnt Peripheral localities and economies of scale in co-operating across a border National or regional levels have not yet fully understood the benefits of cross-border co-operation in remote localities Cross-border problems have reduced since the EU accession 1995