On Monday 23 May, the annual meetings of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the Norwegian Grants and Bilateral Cooperation Fund Committee takes place. Representatives of the Ministry of Finance (FM), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the sector Ministries will discuss with representatives of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the The Financial Mechanism Office, as well as the Norwegian Embassy in Latvia and the Icelandic Embassy in Finland the progress and challenges of the contributions of EEA and Norwegian grants, including strengthening bilateral relations.
“The global challenges of the Russian war in Ukraine, as well as the consequences of the pandemic, have a direct impact on the implementation of Grants projects. We see that successful implementation of the programmes will require adaptation to the new realities. At the same time, EEA and Norwegian grant co-financing also helps to continue to realise significant investments in areas relevant to Latvia’s development, such as justice, science and innovation, strengthening local government capacity, environment, preservation of cultural heritage and civil society. We also assess the ability of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein to react quickly and effectively by channelling part of the bilateral cooperation fund to support Ukrainian refugees in Latvia,” notes the Deputy Secretary of State of the FM for EU funds Armands Eberhards.
Despite the impact of the war and the pandemic, significant progress has been made on the implementation of the grants at this point. At present, a total of 120 projects of EUR 76.2 million are being implemented, representing 89% of the total available grant investments. At the annual meeting, sectoral ministries will inform donor countries about the achievements of the implementation of the programmes, the challenges and the future action plan.
In the field of justice, preparations for the construction of the Correctional Service Personnel Training Centre and the Open Regime Prison Infrastructure in Olaine on 24 May 2022 the Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with the project implementer, will demonstrate to donors’ representatives both the progress of existing investments and the planned results, as well as investment achievements and sustainability of the previous investment period. At the same time, in the area of justice, a system of practice leaders has been developed and implemented, as well as training to provide modern-day practice facilities for prison workers.
The introduction of internal affairs projects will also be continued in order to promote cooperation between law enforcement authorities in the prevention and combating of economic crime, to improve quality and speed up the investigation of economic crimes by the State Police, to increase the effectiveness of the customs control system at the border “Terehova”, to establish an alarm system, and to introduce the Barnahus model in Latvia, thereby improving the system for the protection of children’s rights.
On the other hand, climate change policy projects have been launched to improve national soil data for the development and implementation of climate change policies, to improve the consistency of climate change policy planning and their relevance at national level, and to increase its integration into sectoral and regional policies. In the field of the environment, projects are being introduced to clean up historically contaminated sites, contributing to the reduction of the negative impacts of contaminated sites on the environment, human health and the ecological status of the Baltic Sea.
Similarly, Latvian small and medium-sized enterprises support the development and deployment of new, innovative products and technologies in areas such as quality-of-life technology, green innovation and information and communication technologies, and 90% of the projects will be implemented in close cooperation with Norwegian partners, as well as work launched by the Technology Business Centre, which provides deeper knowledge to the interests on developing innovative business ideas, creating and directing product prototypes on the market.
In the field of education, sustained progress is in the development projects of innovation centres development – Daugavpils, Liepaja, Cesis and Ventspils. The Baltic Research Programme in Latvia is supported by projects in areas such as innovative solutions for efficient and sustainable use of resources, public health and e-health and also regional economic development, employment, labour market regulation and social policy.
In the area of regional development and culture, business support measures are provided throughout Latvia and active work on creating professional arts and cultural products for children and youth audiences is ensured. As well as the open competition for projects to support business ideas in Latgale.
In parallel, projects under the Bilateral Cooperation Fund with donor partner involvement of €2.38 million (91%) of the total €2.61 million available are also being implemented. So far, 14 bilateral cooperation initiatives in the fields of research, public participation and inclusion have been approved, including one for Ukrainian refugees in Latvia.
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