On Tuesday, 1 December, the annual European Economic Area (EEA) and Norway grants meeting took place. The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and representatives of the line ministries discussed with representatives of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Financial Mechanism Office, as well as the Embassy of Norway and Iceland in Latvia the progress of the EEA and Norway grant programmes, including progress in strengthening bilateral relations with donor countries.
Representatives of donor countries welcomed Latvia’s professional attitudes and work done, especially at thi time of challenges, when it is necessary to respond quickly and flexibly to changes. The Latvian risk management system, which allows targeted planning and achievement of the targets, was also positively noted. During the meeting, the two sides acknowledged that the cooperation and mutual trust established is the one that provides assurance that the projects launched would achieve the objectives originally pursued.
Despite the impact of Covid-19, significant progress has been made so far in the implementation of grants. Currently the half of the predefined projects are in implementation. Work has been undertaken on the development of the Correctional Service Personnel Training Centre and the Open Regime Prison Infrastructure in Olaine Prison. In the field of education, there are four innovation centres projects under development in Daugavpils, Liepaja, Cesis and Ventspils. Four projects in the field of internal affairs have also been launched – promoting cooperation between law enforcement authorities in the prevention and combating of economic crime, supporting the establishment of an alarm system, preventing and combating economic crime at the Border Crossing point “Terehova” and the State Police for speeding up economic crime investigations and improving the quality of Latvia. And one project on climate change policy integration has been launched.
At the same time, one open call in the Baltic Research Programme has already been completed this year, further applications are expected in the historically polluted site in the remediation contest. It should be noted that a number of competitions are planned next year in areas such as education (scholarships), culture, support for business ideas in Latgale, as well as green innovation, information and communication technologies and quality of life technologies.
This year, there was an active interest in the Fund for Bilateral ralations, with €1.16 million of initiatives approved so far, leaving €0.58 million still available until 2025 for new initiatives. The aim of the Fund is to strengthen bilateral relations between Latvia, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein in areas such as security, research, preservation of cultural heritage, media strengthening, public participation and the promotion of openness.
Until now, grants have contributed to areas relevant to Latvia’s development, such as justice, science and innovation, strengthening local government capacity, environment, preservation of cultural heritage and civil society.
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Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway have a zero-tolerance policy on corruption and mismanagement in the EEA and Norway Grants. We strongly encourage you to share your concerns and report suspected irregularities.
