The main aim of the East West Window project is to accelerate the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) development through better connecting of the existing potentials within the Region.

The project will:

promote territorial integration of the North-West Russia and Kaliningrad into the Baltic Sea Region through joint spatial planning and development actions in the priority fields such as business development, transport and ICT development as well as in the sea use planning and Integrated Coastal Zone Management,

diminish knowledge gaps within the Region on the character of development potential, its synergies and complementarities with potentials of other countries of the region, and on methods how this potential can be efficiently connected with the potentials of the regional partners,

serve VASAB as a useful tool for its main goal to prepare the Long Term Perspective for spatial development of the BSR till 2030, in line with the encouragement of the Council of the Baltic Sea States.

VASAB (Vision and Strategies around the Baltic Sea) is co-operation of 11 ministers responsible for spatial planning and development in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) Countries. Regional authorities of Germany and Russia also participate in the VASAB co-operation.

The total budget of the project amounts 503 104 EUR. 75% of the project budget is financed by the European Union Grant - BSR INTERREG III B Neighbourhood programme - TACIS strand.

The project will be executed from 16^th June 2007 till 15^th December 2008.

Project partners: Latvian Ministry of Regional Development and Local Government (project Responsible Partner), German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing, Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, Polish Ministry of Regional Development, Danish Forest and Nature Agency, Swedish research institute Nordregio, Polish Maritime Institute, St. Petersburg Administration, Kaliningrad University and Russian Economic Developers Association (ASSET).

The expected outputs:

Assessment of unused innovation potential in NW Russia and recommendations on policy improvements for innovations in NW Russia from the BSR perspective;

Identification of spatial problems generated by innovation and in/out sourcing in NW Russia and assessment of their potential for the BSR integration;

Assessment of accessibility and trade flow perspective of NW Russia;

Policy recommendations on contribution of NW Russia to the joint efforts to improve connectivity and accessibility of the BSR;

Recommendations for improvement of the transnational planning methodologies in the field of transport and ICT development in the BSR;

Assessment of legal framework for co-operation of NW Russia in transnational sea use planning and ICZM;

Sea use register in Russia with relevant maps/GIS application;

Policy recommendations on legislative changes leading to involvement of Russian institutions in the management system for sea use planning and ICZM at the BSR level;

Recommendations on upgrading the instruments and tools for transnational sea use planning and ICZM accumulated at the BSR level based on the completed pilot activities;

Develop proposals for future investments in NW Russia in the fields of knowledge-based economy, transport and ICT;

Acknowledgment of the results at the political level (e.g. Northern Dimension, BDF, Baltic 21, VASAB, CBSS summits);

Institutional framework for co-operation with other BSR countries in the transnational sea use planning and ICZM.

The interim results of the project will be presented to the decision-makers, experts and other stakeholders in May 2008 in Riga and Kaliningrad while the final findings and policy recommendations will be presented at the closing conference of the project in St. Petersburg in October/November 2008.

The project is divided into three WORK PACKAGES:

WORK PACKAGE 1: Business development and innovation affecting spatial development - led by the Danish Forest and Nature Agency.

WORK PACKAGE 2: Enhancing accessibility - led by the Latvian Ministry of Regional Development and Local Government.

WORK PACKAGE 3: Transnational sea use planning and ICZM - led by the Polish Ministry of Regional Development.

The East West Window project is part-financed by the European Union. The contents of this leaflet are the sole responsibility of the Project Partners and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting position of the European Union.