European Border Dialogues
How is cross-border cooperation unfolding in the Barents Region? How is it developing in the Balkans or in the Carpathian region? What is common, what is different?
The Barents Secretariat seeks to faciliate exchange of knowledge, experiences and best practices between European border regions, and sees this exchange as vital for the handling of common challenges in European cross-border affairs.
In cooperation with the Norway Grants financial mechanism, the Secretariat now actively works with stakeholders in several regions located along the eastern border of the European Union, and first of all in Slovakia and Bulgaria.
Contact:
Do you want to know more about the Norwegian Barent Secretariat and the Norway Grants programme, please contact:
Elizaveta Vassilieve
Adviser
E-mail: elizaveta@barents.no
Telephone: +47 406 22 047
Do you want to know more about the Norway Grants? Check out the website of the EEA/Norway Grants
European cross-border cooperation with Norway Grants The Barents Secretariat promotes cross-border cooperation in Europe together with the Norway Grants financial mechanism. Leaning on its experiences from the Barents Region, the Secretariat works with stakeholders in Slovakia and Bulgaria to share and exchange best practices in how to cooperate across borders.
In Slovakia, the Secretariat is Donor Programme Partner in the Cross-Border Cooperation programme (PA26), one of the biggest EEA/Norway Grants programme in the country. A total of €12,720 million is made available for project applicants under the programme. Programme Operator is the Slovak Government Office for management of EEA and Norway Grants.
In Bulgaria, the Secretariat is Project Partner in the project titled ”Bulgarian Border Dialogue”, an initiative which aims at facilitating enhanced access to data on cross-border relations and borderland developments between Bulgaria and its neighboring countries of Turkey, Macedonia and Serbia. The project also includes cooperation between national statistical authorities and cross-border data journalism training.
The Barents Secretariat is the only institution in northern Norway, which has status as Donor Programme Partner (DPP) in the grants period 2009-2014. A key objective with the engagement is to help strengthen bilateral relations between entities in Norway and the recipient countries.
The Norway Grants financial mechanism is part of the Norwegian contribution to the EU negotiated with the European Commission. The total contribution of the EEA/Norway Grants amounts to €1,79 billion, of which €800 million are part of the Norway Grants. The money is made available under 32 different programme areas, one of them the PA26 Cross-Border Cooperation.