Sharing European integration know-how and CBC experience between Norway and Russia with Ukraine

Project facts

Project promoter:
Research Centre of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association, n.o.
Project Number:
SK08-0013
Target groups
Researchers or scientists,
Minorities
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€473,526
Final project cost:
€344,566
From Norway Grants:
€ 263,593
The project is carried out in:
Slovakia

Description

The project has international scope, hence most of the activities will be realised in the Slovak-Ukrainian CBC territory. The key stakeholders and participating institutions are Slovak, Ukrainian and Norwegian entities (mostly universities and NGOs). It's a research and educational project that also includes a lot of clustering and networking activities. In all activities, the core idea is to transfer Norwegian know-how from the EU-Norway relations and Norway-Russia CBC relations for the enhancement of the EU/Slovak-Ukrainian relations and for bringing closer of Ukraine to the EU, even after refusal to sign the Association Agreement in the Vilnius by the Ukrainian side. The project will be a follow up to the SUREC project (SK0105) that has been successfully implemented by SK-NO-UA consortium led by RC SFPA with the support of NFM and the Office of the Government of SR in 2009-2010. It will aim at further developing of the network of SK-NO-UA cooperation on CBC issues and European integration of Ukraine established by the SUREC. Project will facilitate sharing expertise, experiences and best practices of Slovak and Norwegian participants with their Ukrainian partners with the goal to improve both expert and administrative capacities of Ukraine in the field of CBC as well as the management of Ukraine’s European integration.

Summary of project results

Project addressed following main issues: 1) EU/EEA-Ukraine relations after Vilnius summit (Nov 2013), Revolution of Dignity (Feb 2014), conclusion of Association Agreement and new reforms in Ukraine; 2) need in better EU/EEA visibility in Ukraine; 3) Slovak-Ukraine relations: enhancing cooperation and good relations; 4) weak CBC and regional development in SK-UA border region; 5) lack of expert capacities in border SK-UA area, poor quality of education, including limited international scientific cooperation; 6) incomplete institutional capacities of think-tanks, NGOs and universities for effective CBC; and 7) need to enhance and strengthen clustering activities in CBC area between local stakeholders, incl. business sector. Project included applied policy research in 5 sectors with policy recommendations, including strengthening capacities for endogenous development of the border area. Created networks currently operate in the area of: 1) business and economic cooperation: promoting mutual trade and investment, organizing business events, assisting entrepreneurs, etc. We also elaborated proposal to streamline the UA's institutional involvement in the AA/DCFTA implementation that is in line with the UA's proposal for the 5th EaP Summit, but we also produced 4 guidelines for UA businessmen on DCFTA and trade with EU; 2) cooperation in energy: we actively contributed to EU/Slovakia-UA energy dialogue, but also supported cooperation between universities in the field of energy efficiency; 3) reform of public administration in Ukraine: we transferred Slovak know-how in the field, provided advice at national and local level, and supported scientific cooperation in this field; 4) multi-ethnic relations: we initiated expert and academic cooperation in this field, incl. policy recommendations for SK-UA governments; 5) Cross-Border Cooperation: We initiated bi- and multilateral transfer of know-how and scientific cooperation on CBC as well as we created platform for development of new multilateral CBC projects.

Summary of bilateral results

One of the most important achievements of the project is establishment of a cooperative partnership of SK/UA institutions with Norwegian partner – the Faculty of Finnmark, University of Tromsoe – Campus Kirkenes. Common research topics were identified and joint research outputs (on CBC, economic development of cross-border areas, migration …) helped to establish regular contacts. The exchange of research staff also took place during the project and all partners (NO, SK, UA) are willing to enhance and extend initiated cooperation depending on available financial resources. We are already preparing new joint research and academic projects that will be addressing issues relevant for the EU policies, Ukraine, but also for bilateral SK-UA interaction. At the level of project outputs, Norway can be a model for Ukraine, how to manage relations with the EU – being close to the EU as much as possible under conditions of non-membership. This idea was present during the all project activities, esp. in the topics related trade and investment relations, energy cooperation and cross-border cooperation. Unfortunately, capacities of Norwegian partner to be involved in all fields of project activities, esp. when it comes to public administration reforms and multi-ethnic relations were limited, but we do believe to develop our cooperation in the future also in the above fields since they are very important for Slovak and Ukrainian partners participating in the established cooperation network.