UBC Environment and Sustainable Development Secretariat,/Sakari Saarinen / Project Coordinator / NEW BRIDGES Kick-off 4-5 March 2009 New Bridges – Strengthening

UBC Environment and Sustainable Development Secretariat,/Sakari Saarinen / Project Coordinator / NEW BRIDGES Kick-off 4-5 March 2009

New Bridges – Strengthening of

Quality of Life through Improved Management of

Urban Rural Interaction

Turku 4 – 5 March 2009

Introduction to the Baltic Sea

Region Programme 2007-

2013Part-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund and European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument)

UBC Environment and Sustainable Development Secretariat/ Sakari Saarinen / Project Coordinator / NEW BRIDGES Kick-off 3-5 March 2009

The Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013

• a mainstream Structural Funds programme for the Baltic Sea Region (Objective 3 programme on Territorial Cooperation)

• builts on two preceding Community Initiative programmes (Baltic Sea INTERREG IIC & III B)

• addresses issues that call for intervention at transnational level

• is expected to boost knowledge-based socio-economic competitiveness of the BSR and its further territorial cohesion

•strives to make the Baltic Sea region a better and more attractive place for its citizens and other people to invest, work and live in.

New Bridges – Strengthening of Quality of Life through Improved Management of Urban Rural Interaction



BSR Programme area 1. EU Member States (ERDF and ENPI):Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Northern parts of Germany

2. Norway (Norwegian fund)

3. Partner countries (ENPI):Belarus (and maybe in the future North-west regions of Russia)


“On 30 January 2009 the European Commission officially informed the Programme’s Monitoring Committee that the Government of the Russian Federation had not signed the Financing Agreement for the Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013 by the specified deadline. As a consequence, the ENPI funding that was allocated to the Programme will not be used to finance the involvement of Russian organisations taking part in the activities of Baltic Sea Region projects.”



First call results:•total 110 project applications were received in the 1st call•24 projects approved•approved projects involve around 440 project partners from 10 countries in the Baltic Sea area•Around 66.1 Million Euro or 29.8 % of the total available EU/Norwegian programme co-financing was allocated



BSR Programme - Strategic objective and priorities


To strengthen the developmenttowards a sustainable, competitive

and territorially integrated Baltic SeaRegion by connecting potentials

over the borders

4. Attractive and competitive cities and regions

1. Fostering innovations 3. Baltic Sea as a common resource

2. External and internal accessibility


Prioritised thematic areas: Priority 4: Promoting attractive and competitive cities and regions •propagates co-operation of metropolitan regions, cities and rural areas for their better attractiveness for citizens and investors•features action programmes and policies at the BSR level to make cities and regions more competitive engines for economic development. •strengthens urban-rural partnerships and support a viable economic transformation of BSR areas with smaller and less dense settlements




Lead Partner Principleresponsibility for:

project management systemsubmitting Application Formsigning the Subsidy Contract

reporting of the project progressrequesting payments

Some basic elements of the programme


Work package = a group of activities focused on delivering specific outcomes

Work package 1: Project Management and AdministrationWork package 2: Communication and InformationWork package 3-7: defined by projects





Milestones = important moments in the work package implementation

delivery of a main output

readiness to start a new stage

The base for activity monitoring!



Visit the BSR Programme web site and documents for further information

http://eu.baltic.net/




Documents

UBC Environment and Sustainable Development Secretariat,/Sakari Saarinen / Project Coordinator / NEW BRIDGES Kick-off 4-5 March 2009 New Bridges – Strengthening