The Central Baltic Programme 2014-2020 finances result orientated cross-border cooperation projects in Estonia, Finland (incl Åland), Latvia and Sweden

Annual Event - Reflections

Friday, November 30, 2018 - 11:44
On November 14 and 15 the Central Baltic Programme celebrated its annual event. The main theme this year was “Finding Synergies in Cross-border Cooperation Projects”.

Day one opened with a “project village" networking event at which over 75 representatives from 45 projects shared information about their projects and achievements.
The day’s events continued with a networking dinner where the newest member of the Monitoring Committee, Johnny Kjellström from County Administrative Board of Stockholm, gave a speech underlining the Programme’s customer-oriented approach as one of its best attributes. The cross-border and cross-maritime cooperation considered within the Programme were also highly praised.

The second day began with the video greeting by Markku Markkula, Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), setting the political framework of the event. During the day, the participants learned about the current state of the Programme and got ideas on how to bring forces together by joining project platforms, including through using the KEEP.eu tool to collect and disseminate information. This was followed by presentations from four Central Baltic tourism-related projects (DefenceArch, PortMate, BOOSTED, and CAITO) outlining their facts and stories, prompting one of the participants to remark, "It is always amazing to feel the passion that tourism projects possess. Keep on doing a great job!"

Over 120 people including representatives of the Central Baltic projects, the Monitoring and Steering Committees from various institutions of the CB Programme countries, and other guests took part in the two-day event. The positive atmosphere facilitated networking and realising the stated goal of finding synergies.

The material presented during the event is available here.

We are very thankful to everyone who joined us to celebrate the Programme together. See you next year!