OREANDA-NEWS. June 03, 2010. International Conference Cross-Border Cooperation: Russian Federation, European Union and Norway. Focus – the Republic of Karelia will take place in Petrozavodsk on June 4-5.

Work on preparation of the Conference nears completion. The Conference is organized by the Government of the RK and the Non-for-profit partnership Cooperation center on Generation and Implementation and realization of interregional, cross-border and international programs. The Conference is arranged with the support of the Administration of the Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation in the North-West Federal District.

Plenary session on Current state and future development of cross-border cooperation in the north of Europe will start on June 4 at 10:00 a.m. Program of the session includes reports of Galina Izotova, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on Federal Affairs and Regional Policies, Chairman of the non-for-profit organization "Institute of Regions", Caj Soderlund, representative of the Nordic Council of Ministers, Anneli Puura - Markala, Ambassador, Chief of Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Co-chairman of Karelian-Finnish Group on contiguous regions cooperation and other representatives of regional ministries and administrations.

The Conference has caused great interest among representatives of political and business public in Russia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Latvia. Over 150 delegates have confirmed their participation. Among them there are leading Russian and international experts, representatives of bodies of the government and regional administrations of Russia and neighbouring states, institutes of the European Union, international and non-profit organizations, scientific community and business.

There have been announced some key issues of round-table meetings. Thus, in particular, participants are interested in the status of programs of cross-border cooperation of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument on the border of NWFD and EU. This subject will be discussed at "The Role of the international financial institutions in realization of cross-border cooperation projects" round-table meeting, (June 4, 2010, 12:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.). The following issues will be also discussed there: Finance activity of Nordic Investment Bank in North-West Federal District of Russia, The role of the Bank VTB North-West in implementation of the cross-border cooperation projects in the north-western region of Russia, Potential of international investment participation in projects of creation transport and logistiс infrastructure of cross-border territories.

Experts competent in this sphere are: Alexander Kolesov, First Deputy to the Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Karelia, Igor Kovtun, General representative of the Nordic Investment Bank in Russia, Dmitry Sanatov, project coordinator of the Center for Strategic Research “North-West”, Sergey Balanev, General Director, St Petersburg Foundation for SME Development, Kari Homanen, Vice-president of NEFCO, Natalya Okuneva, Managing director of the subsidiary office "Petrozavodsky" of Bank VTB North-West.

Within the framework of the "Small & Medium Enterprise - the participants of transboundary programs in terms of the "Northern Dimension" round-table meeting (June 4, 2010, 3:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.) issues of innovation and power efficient projects, development of techno-parks will be discussed. This round-table meeting will be moderated by Valery Shlyamin, Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in Finland.

"The indigenous peoples and modern development of territories in the north of Europe" round-table meeting (June 5, 2010, 9:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.) offers reports of Zinaida Strogalschikova, Chairman of the Karelian regional non-governmental organization "The Society of Veps Culture", Valery Markov, Chairman of the International Advisory Committee for Finno-Ugric peoples; First Deputy Chairman of the State Assembly of the Republic of Komi, Alexey Tsykarev, President of the International Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples, member of the Council of the Karelian Youth non-governmental organization "Nuori Karjala" ("Young Karelia") and other leading experts.

Within the framework of the round-table meeting on the subject of "People-to-people relations development" (June 5, 2010, 11:15 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.) there will be discussed issues of cooperation development between non-profit organizarions and European institutions, issues of Russian-Finnish humanitarian cooperation, international youth cooperation in the Barents region, etc.

This round-table meeting will be moderated by Pavel Petrov, Head of Petrozavodsk Contact Center, Adviser, the Information Office of the Nordic Council of Ministers in St. Petesrburg, and Darya Akhutina, General Director of the NGO "Association for co-operation with Nordic countries "NORDEN".

Withion the scope of the Conference there will be organized the Cross-Border Cooperation of the Republic of Karelia exposition. There will be held presentations of the IInd Murmansk International Economic Forum and IT-park of Petrozavodsk State University.

Meeting of Coordination Council on cross-border cooperation under the Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation to the North-West Federal District The 10th anniversary of the North-West Federal District foundation well be held on June 5.