Grant Contracts to be signed during the Annual Conference and Contact Forum “Strategic Cooperation - United by Borders” on 16 November 2011

During the Conference 3 very first Grant Contracts (all under Priority 3, 1 for Measure 3.1. and 2 for Measure 3.2.) are to be countersigned by the Joint Managing Authority of Estonia - Latvia – Russia ENPI CBC Programme and project’s Applicants in the presence of the representatives of the National Authorities from Estonia, Latvia and Russia. The signing ceremony will be combined with the Press-Conference for national and regional media of the Programme partner’s countries, which will start at 14.30 in the conference hall “Ambassador”. In total 25 projects initiated by the local and regional institutions of the involved 3 countries have been approved with estimated allocation of Programme funding of 24 Million Euro under the 1st Call for Proposals of the Programme. These projects were selected from the total of 226 applications which were submitted during the 1st Call.

The Conference will give the opportunity for the first time to present to the wider public the objectives of 4 Large Scale Projects. They are focussed on solving of the joint problems of socio-economical character, in the areas of cultural and historical heritage saving, ecological and border crossing problems. Total estimated allocation from the Programme funding for Large Scale Projects is 26 096 744 EUR. Additional financing 9 081 558 EUR to the Programme has been made available from the Estonian State budget for large-scale cross border projects involving partners from Estonia and Russia.

The Conference will also give indicative information on the 2nd Call for Estonia - Latvia – Russia ENPI CBC Programme project’s proposal. The participants of the Conference will be introduced to the terms of participation and priorities of the Call. The special activity - Partner Search Point will be organized to facilitate establishment of new partnerships for the elaboration of the new project to be submitted within the course of the 2nd Call and more than 80 participant of the conference had registered beforehand to attend Partner Search Point.