The second annual Conference of NEEBOR, the network composed of 41 frontier Regions on the eastern external borders of the EU, was held at Olsztyn, in Poland, last week. Supported by EU regional policy funds, the network is aimed at “improving the visibility of the participating regions and establishing a proper basis for common initiatives in the field of local and regional development”. The main point on the agenda of the meeting – attended by local and national public administrators of the countries concerned, as well as representatives of the EU institutions and neighbouring countries – was cohesion policy and territorial cooperation in the period 2007-2013, especially through the presentation of two programmes at the planning stage in Brussels: “Regions for economic change” and “Interreg IV c – cross-border, transnational and inter-regional cooperation”. Particular attention was also paid to the existing and future networks in the sector of transport and of policies aimed at attracting investments and creating employment for the development of the EU’s eastern frontiers.
