The roundtable discussion “The Projects of the RF and EU as a Tool of Cross-border Cooperation in the North of Europe”

On December 5, 2014 the roundtable discussion “The Projects of the RF and EU as a Tool of Cross-border Cooperation in the North of Europe” was conducted in the framework of the project “Establishing the EU Centre in the Barents Region of Russia”, implemented under the financial support of the European Union.

The arrangement is included into the program of the International Forum “EuroNorth 2014” “Classical University in Transboundary Space in the North of Europe: the Strategy of Innovation Development”. The main goal of the forum is the enlargement of professional interaction between Russian and foreign research societies, provision of information about the potential and research and technical capacity in the topical areas, expert discussion of the world tendencies of development of the scientific directions discussed during the actions in the framework of the projects.

The moderators were the director of PetrSU Institute of International Programs L. Kulikovskaya, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the RK D. Kislov and the head of the subsidiary of the program “ENPI Karelia” in Petrozavodsk D. Basegsky. They pointed out the need in coordination of efforts carried out by international organizations, enterprises, budgetary organizations, regional authorities, local authorities of Karelia in the sphere of project ideas preparation for the programs for 2014-2020.     

The relevance of the roundtable discussion on declared topic is connected with the significant project activity of research and educational, cultural and public organizations of the Republic of Karelia and, in particular, of PetrSU, in the programs cofinanced by the European Union (ENPI, Jean Monnet, Erasmus Mundus EW, etc.), as well as with the need of interaction and exchange of information on the current potential and capacity in the work on European programs.

In the course of the roundtable discussion the participants shared experience with each other in the sphere of implemented projects, achieved results and their significance for cross-border regions and international cooperation between the RF and the EU. Special accent was made on difficulties the participants faced with during project realization: project management, interaction with partners, “gaps” in the legislation, legal obstacles, unaccomplished objectives of the projects. The perspectives of the project activity in the framework of the new programs Erasmus+, Horizon 2020, ENI were also investigated.

The representatives of Russian and foreign educational, cultural and public organizations and authorities took part in the forum.

The topics of reports and questions discussed during the roundtable discussion allowed its participants to get acquainted with the best practices of the project activities, opportunities of overcoming and avoiding the problems on the stage of projects implementations, as well as with the opportunities of further participation in European and other projects.