The 2007-2013 South Baltic Cross-border Cooperation Programme (SBP) was one of the most important cooperation tools for Euroregion Baltic as it included most of the territories of ERB located in Lithuania, Denmark, Poland and Sweden. Being one of the European Territorial Cooperation programmes however, it did not include areas located outside EU thereby preventing partners from the Kaliningrad Region from participating in SBP projects on equal basis and with direct financial support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Nevertheless, organisations located in Kaliningrad could still take part in the SBP projects as Associated Partners thereby participating in project activities and develop cross-border cooperation links with relevant partners from other regions of the South Baltic area.
A report prepared in March 2015 at the South Baltic Programme Joint Technical Secretariat by Ms Clarissa Hirst, details the participation of Russian partners in several important projects implemented during the first edition of the Programme between 2007-2013.
According to the report Russian partners participated in 12 projects which equates to just over 17% of the total projects carried out during that time. Among the organisations taking part in the projects were universities, artistic institutions, organisations, museums, churches and political and legislative bodies from Kaliningrad.
The projects with Russian participation focused on issues ranging from tourism and transport to environmental and cultural heritage and labour and skills development. The Associated Organisations from Kaliningrad contributed to these projects in both soft and tangible capacities.
The report provides an overview of the nature of the cooperation between project partners and Russian Associated Organisations on the basis of 7 project case studies from the 2007-2013 period.
The complete report is available under this link.