Acronym: FOSTER SME

Contract Number: ESTLATRUS/1.1./ELRII-233/2012/28

Beneficiary: Madona Municipality Council

Beneficiary Address: Madona Municipality Council

Country: Latvia

Region: Vidzeme Region

Project Location: Pskov Region, South Estonia

Start Date: 01.04.2013

Project Duration: 21 months

Grant Amount: 949.974,46 €

Percentage Of Total Eligible Action Costs: 87,56%

Summary: The overall objective of the project is to foster economic and social integration in Latvia, Estonia and Russia border areas through intense cooperation of local and regional authorities of Vidzeme region, Vōru county and Pskov region for development of local SMEs opportunities and encouraging of the entrepreneurship. Specific objectives are: 1) To raise competitiveness of partner regions through integrated business support and experience exchange between project partners in different instruments of SME`s support to improve existing skills with innovative approaches and to promote future cooperation exploiting these instruments; 2) To encourage the entrepreneurship of the partner regions SMEs trough joint development activities and common events – business fairs, contact events, educational info-days, regional presentations, networking, B2B contacts, to improve business environment and to support future cooperation. Partners of the project are: Madona Municipality Council (LV), ANO “Fund of guarantee and enterprise development of Pskov region” (RU) and Võru County Government (EE). All project partners and associates are responsible for SME support and development on their respective territory. Establishment of strong and continuously operating EE-LV-RU network of partner region`s businesses is main activity toward specific objectives of the project. First of all this network will be supported through implementation of Common Business Events of project partners and target groups. It is planned to realize 3 types of common events: 1) Business Fairs mixed with Contact events, 2) Educational Info Days; Specific training of SMEs, project staff and stakeholders; 3) Regional presentations also will be combined with the Business Fairs. Latvian partners will invest into development of SMEs WEB tool and purchase of equipment for business fairs, Russian partner will purchase Mobile Fair Centre and equipment for business fairs, Estonian partner will elaborate the documentation of 8 investment areas that consist of detail plan, technical projects of infrastructure, feasibility study and marketing plan for these areas. SMEs WEB tool will serve as a common tool for continuation of cooperation after the end of the project. All purchased equipment and elaborated documents will ensure quality of business fairs and contact events in the regions, competitiveness and export potential of the regions.

Project homepage: www.madona.lv/lat/?ct=novproj&fu=read&id=1171&start=2

Measure name: Fostering of socio-economic development and encouraging business and entrepreneurship

Measure: 1.1

Involved partners:

1. Madona Municipality Council, Saieta laukums 1, Madona
2. ANO "Fund of Guarantee and enterprise development of Pskov region", Pskov, Rotny St.34, Pskov, 180004,Russia
3. Võru County Government, Jüri 12, Võru, 65620

Additional information:

1. Portfolio_233.pdf (pdf) 233.52 KB
2. Portfolio_233_RUS.pdf (pdf) 241.82 KB
3. Result Sheet (pdf) 1.1 MB