Vidzeme Planning Region (VPR) continues to actively represent the interests of Latvia’s eastern border area at the European Union level, maintaining ongoing dialogue with the European Commission and international partners to ensure that the region’s situation is duly reflected in policy planning and decision-making. The needs of Latvia’s eastern border area are also represented by VPR within the EU interregional initiative Regio-Silience, which brings together external border regions from Poland, the Baltic States, Finland and Norway.
Within this initiative, Vidzeme Planning Region is represented by Santa Vītola, Head of the Vidzeme Open Innovation Hub (VAIC), who this autumn participated in the interregional seminar “Regio-Silience in East Lapland: North-Eastern Europe’s attractiveness” held in Salla, Finland. She provided a professional regional perspective in international discussions and thematic working groups, highlighting both the shared challenges of the EU’s external border regions and the development and security priorities set by Vidzeme Planning Region.
Ms Vītola reminded participants that Vidzeme Planning Region, just like the Latgale Planning Region, is an external border region of the European Union, characterised by specific security, development and mobility challenges.
The seminar discussions also addressed development challenges identified in Vidzeme and the support mechanisms needed in the following areas: development of dual-use mobility infrastructure, promotion of productive investment and entrepreneurship, community vitality, attraction and retention of human capital, as well as regional cooperation in security and crisis preparedness.
Regio-Silience is a cooperation initiative established by the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform, aimed at jointly addressing the security, economic development and territorial resilience challenges that have intensified following Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine.
VPR is one of the active partners of the initiative, ensuring that the needs of Latvia’s eastern border area are clearly articulated in interregional dialogue and reflected in the recommendations submitted to the European Commission.
Thorsten Kohlisch, Lead Manager of the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform emphasises the important contribution of Vidzeme Planning Region to the collaborative process: “Russia’s full-scale war of aggression on Ukraine has reinforced the security and regional development challenges faced by the EU’s Eastern Border Regions. Vidzeme Planning Region in Latvia is no exception. From the beginning, the region has been an active and committed partner in the Regio-Silience initiative, launched to strengthen the collaboration between the most affected local and regional border territories from Poland via the Baltic States and Finland up to Norway. Hands-on local policy measures such as Vidzeme’s Open Innovation Hub serve as an inspiration for the partner regions, and underline Vidzeme’s commitment to addressing the current situation in an agile, pro-active and collaborative way.”
It should be noted that the Regio-Silience partner regions have prepared and submitted a set of recommendations to the European Commission for the planning of the next EU multiannual financial framework. The recommendations are structured into three thematic dimensions: (1) development policies, strategies and investment priorities, (2) dual-use development, and (3) societal dialogue. The proposals are based on joint analysis by border regions and on practical insights gathered during discussions and site visits.
Alongside Vidzeme Planning Region, representatives of Latgale Planning Region also participate in the initiative, ensuring full representation of Latvia’s eastern border interests.
Background information
In 2024, the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform launched the interregional cooperation initiative “Regio-Silience”, bringing together EU eastern external border regions from Poland, the Baltic States, Finland and Norway.
The initiative aims to promote coordinated action in the fields of security, economic development and territorial resilience, particularly in the context of geopolitical disruptions.
Vidzeme Planning Region is one of the active partners of the initiative.
