An Annual Event of the Estonia-Latvia-Russia CBC Programme took place in Narva

On the 31st of October 2012, around 160 participants – representatives of various projects funded by the Programme – attended an Annual Event of the Estonia-Latvia-Russia CBC Programme which took place in Narva.

The main objective of the event is promotion of cross border cooperation and reached results by Programme through the presentation of projects, exchange of experiences on the implementation of projects, as well as strengthening existing partnership.

There are four major investment projects being simultaneously implemented for the first time in the border region of Narva-Ivangorod and which in total received about 16 million of co-financing from the Programme of Estonia-Latvia-Russia. This fact contributed to the decision why Narva became the venue of the annual conference of the Programme.

The conference, which took place in a new building of Narva College of the University of Tartu, started with welcome words addressed by Mr Siim-Valmar Kiisler, the Minister for Regional Affairs at the Estonian Ministry of the Interior, Mrs Dace Grūberte, the Head of the Joint Managing Authority of the Programme and Mr Alexander Tsybulskiy, Head of Department for International Relations and Cross-Border Cooperation of the Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation.

Narva and Ivangorod shortly familiarized participants with the history of both cities and with projects of our region co-financed by the Estonia-Latvia-Russia Programme. Guided tours around Narva and Ivangorod were organized for the participants to get acquainted with the rich local history and see the places that will be reconstructed during the projects.

The project “Unique Estonian-Russian fortresses ensemble development as a single tourist product Stage II” (EstRusFortTour-2) carried out in Narva and Ivangorod is aimed at increasing the availability of a unique fortification ensemble, including the improvement of the infrastructure approaches and entrances to fortresses. This project was presented at the plenary session of the conference as a perfect example of real cooperation between border cities.

There are three other investment projects, which are being implemented in Narva and Ivangorod and co-financed by the Programme Estonia-Latvia-Russia: «Development of historical riverside protection area in Narva/Estonia and Ivangorod /Russia II stage» or shortly «River promenades II», «Development of a unique Narva and Ivangorod trans-border fortresses ensemble as a single cultural and tourist object – LSP6» and «Complex reconstruction border crossing points in Ivangorod (the Russian Federation) and in Narva (Republic of Estonia) – LSP2».

There was organized the voting at the conference in order to determine the best local action of cooperation in the framework of European Cooperation Day celebration. Action of Narva and Ivangorod was awarded as the best one and won the first place among all the projects that participated in the European Cooperation Day.

Conference participants were impressed by the joint performance of art studio Joy from Valga-Valka and the dance group JUN-OST from Narva.

The conference ended with a speech by Alexander Ludwig, Vice Mayor of Narva, who stressed the importance of cooperation and expressed his satisfaction with the achieved results. Also, projects which actively participated in the celebration of the European Cooperation Day were awarded in the end of the conference.

Information about the Programme and the materials of the Conference can be found on the official web page of the Programme of the Estonia-Latvia-Russia www.estlatrus.eu.

Natalia Orava
Project manager
EstRusFortTour-2
+34235 99085