Last week, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (VARAM), acting as the managing authority for the Interreg V-A Latvia-Lithuania Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020, organised the programme's closing conference in Vilnius, gathering 125 participants. Among them were the Latvian Ambassador to the Republic of Lithuania Solveiga Silkalna, VARAM Parliamentary Secretary Ilze Dambīte-Damberga, Vice-Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania Arnoldas Abramavičius, as well as several other representatives from VARAM, the Lithuanian Ministry of the Interior, the European Commission, and partner institutions of the programme-funded projects.
Addressing those present, VARAM Parliamentary Secretary Ilze Dambīte-Damberga emphasised that bilateral cooperation between Latvia and Lithuania in the Interreg programme format has been ongoing for 20 years, making a massive contribution to the development of border regions. She expressed satisfaction that the Programme's achievements are recognised and appreciated not only within the Programme's regions and both countries but on a much broader international scale.
In turn, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of the Interior Arnoldas Abramavičius highlighted the Programme's significant contribution, noting that by exchanging ideas and achieving common goals, the Latvian-Lithuanian cross-border cooperation programme brings the two neighbouring countries closer together. Cooperation within the programme format is not only effective but sometimes the only way to resolve issues that affect both border regions and territories beyond them.
During the conference, attendees were introduced to the programme's achievements and success stories from projects. Additionally, experts from the company “Safege Baltija”, who conducted the impact assessment of the Programme, shared their conclusions on how significant the Programme's contribution has been to the development of Latvia and Lithuania's border regions.
Within the framework of the Programme, thanks to the 132 projects supported and the cooperation of more than 500 partner organisations involved in their implementation – including state and regional institutions, local governments, non-governmental organisations, and their residents – much has been achieved to make the programme's regions more competitive and attractive for living, business, and tourism:
- new tourism routes with a total length of tens of thousands of km have been created,
- 38 ha of degraded territories in the border area have been rehabilitated,
- 46 km of cross-border roads have been reconstructed,
- 4,454 people have participated in training to improve their competitiveness in the labour market,
- 102 social inclusion measures have been created or improved,
- 97 communities have participated in activities to improve living conditions in their places of residence,
- 190 institutions have cooperated to improve the services offered to residents.
At the closing conference in Vilnius Town Hall, the 12 best programme projects were awarded, selected by members of the Programme's Monitoring Committee representing the programme's regions: Kurzeme, Zemgale, and Latgale in Latvia, and the counties of Klaipėda, Telšiai, Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Utena, and Kaunas in Lithuania.
Awards were also given to the three most popular videos created by Programme projects, which were chosen via public voting from 37 submitted videos.