Features

  • To handle football fans border guards learn English
    08-11-2011
    Ukraine is getting ready for Euro 2012, and its border guards are happily back in class. On April 2011 a very special English course started in the port city of Odessa: 150 hours of intensive study were offered to border inspectors with little or no knowledge of English. Such sessions will be held i...
  • Young green patrols in action:
    05-10-2011
    School-based forest units: the tradition existed in Azerbaijan before, now it’s time to restore it and to make it  fi t the contemporary environment. So far, children have been sensitised to forest protection thanks to the efforts of the Centre of Environmental Education in Baku. Now, a ...
  • “Don’t litter, it’s a sin” Even the Church goes Green
    06-09-2011
    In the battle to raise environmental awareness, Church and children are strong allies of the Ukrainian authorities. The waste management problem is acute in some regions, and an overall strategy for ecological education as well as illegal waste disposal has been put in place. The government is suppo...
  • Powerful ‘troika’ in support of systemic changes - Interview with Jorge De La Caballería
    28-07-2011
    The People Behind the Projects Since the launch of the ENP, the EU has been supporting its neighbouring countries in their drive to carry out profound systemic reforms. In particular, a tool-kit of three powerful instruments was developed to help them build modern and competent public administratio...
  • The better the metro system the happier the citizen…
    15-06-2011
    For more than 30 years, the Yerevan metro infrastructure has been operational with almost no major capital rehabilitation. With no more than basic ongoing maintenance, the metro saw a significant deterioration of its assets. Thanks to the Yerevan Metro Rehabilitation Project co-fi nanced by the Eur...
  • Don’t keep the train waiting (to be loaded on the ferry)
    24-05-2011
    The Black and Caspian seas are the backbone links for transport connections between Asia and Europe: ferry transport and land routes are the keys to understand the “Motorways of the Seas – Black Sea and Caspian Sea” project. A second phase of the EU funded initiative focuses on tra...
  • How many hours a day should a truck driver work?
    10-05-2011
    When it comes to road transport safety, Georgia is progressing fast. In 2010, the use of seat belts for front passengers became compulsory. Now the country has launched the accession procedure to the International Road Transport Agreement (AETR), which makes mandatory the use of digital tachographs ...
  • The People Behind the Projects - Interview with Richard Aishton - We do exactly what we say
    04-05-2011
      The forest is not just about wood-cutting. It harbours animals, biodiversity, water; it prevents erosion. The EU-funded Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (ENA–FLEG) project is trying to make people realize and encourage them to develop policy that sustains this precious resource. I...
  • Social cohesion: Networking to keep children with their families and out of institutional care in Russia
    13-04-2011
    "Russia is now entering a new phase of development in the social welfare system which could be called ‘prevention, standardization and deinstitutionalisation." (UNICEF Report)   This project is about preventing the entry of children into institutional care, and ensuring thei...
  • Another leap forward on the new Silk Road in Georgia
    13-04-2011
    Once it is upgraded, transit, trade and tourism will flow. The old highway between Tbilisi and Rustavi causes frequent congestion and safety concerns both for commuters and long-distance travellers from Azerbaijan and Armenia to Georgia’s Black Sea ports or Turkey, and vice versa. A new projec...
  • The World Wide Web at the service of small business
    05-04-2011
    E-government can do more. In Europe it has long been accepted that what is necessary for success in business is not only a good idea and initial capital, but also availability of information on market rules. The EU-supported Egoprise project – promoting e-government as a tool to improve qual...
  • People behind the Projects - Interview with Carmen Falkenberg Ambrosio - East Invest: a two-way street
    24-03-2011
      Running a successful business is never easy, let alone in times of global financial uncertainty when investments are in short supply. The EU funded East Invest programme helps companies and business associations in the Eastern neighbourhood to acquire necessary skills and adopt practices to ...
  • Students without borders
    22-03-2011
    Some of them go abroad to live independently or to improve their knowledge, others to establish contacts and to gain new friends. Most of them end up having the greatest experience of their life. Thousands of students every year join the EU-funded Erasmus Mundus programme, one of the most effi cien...
  • From skiers to cyclists: BikeLand is transforming the Ukrainian Carpathians
    18-02-2011
    Two years ago, people in Yaremche, Western Ukraine, started thinking about an alternative to the traditional skiing, and borrowed the idea of bicycle tourism from Europe. Several enthusiasts - supported by a Cross Border Cooperation programme funded by the EU to the tune of €512,000 - decided ...
  • Humanitarian Aid for the Victims of the Chechen war
    15-02-2011
    An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Chechen civilians died, hundred of thousands were wounded; over 270,000 people fled to neighbouring Ingushetia and Dagestan; around 100,000 Chechens fled to the EU. This is the almost forgotten magnitude of the humanitarian crises which was triggered by the second Che...
  • The People Behind the Projects - Interview with Steve Warren - Water quality at stake - Water governance in the Western EECCA
    02-02-2011
    For two years an EU-funded project has been working to help develop Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.   The €3 million two-year project, Water Governance in the Western EECCA countries has helped promote chang...
  • Students, parents and teachers to heal the wounds of Chernobyl
    26-01-2011
    How do you deal with the consequences of such a disaster as Chernobyl after so many years? In a town in Belarus, some students, teachers and parents have joined efforts and refurbished a school. In other villages, people have equipped their kindergarten, or opened a music school, or restored dr...
  • Safer ports in cleaner waters: towards international standards of maritime safety
    10-12-2010
    A country with a rich history of maritime cargoes and transportation is taking serious steps to foster higher standards of environmental safety at sea and in its ports. This is how Azerbaijani officials, supported by European experts through the TRACECA-SASEPOL project, are modernising their country...
  • The People behind the Projects - Interview with Bodil Persson - Cross-Border Cooperation
    10-11-2010
    Working across borders to bring people together   Cross-Border Cooperation under the ENP (called ENPI CBC) is a whole family of programmes, whose main objective should be seen in the context of the EU’s big enlargement in 2004 and 2007, explains Head of CBC Sector at the European Commis...
  • South Caucasus united by common electricity grid
    04-11-2010
    With more than 26,000 rivers, Georgia is rich in hydropower potential. However, the limited capacity of the country’s electricity transmission grid prevents this natural advantage from translating into major economic benefit. The Black Sea Energy Transmission System, a project supported b...
  • Will Europe save that old house in Vladimir?
    20-10-2010
      When reconstructing a historical building, experts are often faced with the challenge of finding the right balance between using energy-efficient technologies and preserving the building’s authenticity. This is precisely what the EU-funded Energy Efficiency and Urban Development Planni...
  • First TRACECA Investment Forum may help propel Moldovan apples to European supermarkets
    11-10-2010
    A new cutting-edge logistics node may emerge over the next decade on a 40-hectare plot of land near the town of Marculesti, 150km north of Chisinau.   A feasibility study under the EU-funded International Logistics Centres in the Western NIS and the Caucasus project, which is part of the TR...
  • Borders Divide Countries not Rivers
    24-09-2010
    Economic growth in the modern world comes at a price. Pollution from urban and industrial waste, overexploitation and unsustainable use of water in one country may affect water resources way beyond its borders. Water protection and effective management gains even more importance in the context ...
  • Managing water resources
    10-09-2010
    Why does water stop running from the tap? Sometimes it is because it just stops flowing in the river. In order to prevent this from happening, the EU has developed its Water Framework Directive, which is aimed at restoring rivers in their original state. And because water does not have any boundar...
  • Education with European standards
    03-09-2010
      “It was just cool,” says Zaur Mutallimov, a student from the Azerbaijan Tourism Institute on his return from an exchange programme in Portugal. “I really enjoyed studying and being in touch with young people from many European countries.   It turned me into a more op...
  • Environment - Support to environment and sustainable development in Belarus
    26-08-2010
    "The goals of this project fully correspond with the Ministry's mission to support the application of Strategic Environmental Assessment and the implementation of environmental conventions in Belarus."     Аlexander Аpatsky, First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and ...
  • Mine Action - Humanitarian mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal in Abkhazia, Georgia
    26-08-2010
    “Now that the threat of landmines has been removed from their villages local communities are concentrating on their farming and rebuilding their lives."   David McMahon, Project Manager, HALO Trust In any post-conflict zone where the use of mines was prevalent, the clea...
  • The People behind the Projects - Interview with Alexei Grigoriev - FLEG
    24-06-2010
    Only 100-200 kilometres away from the boundaries of the European Union, there is a prima facie plain Russian remote forest area which has been endowed by nature with high quality woods although its population remains rather poor, at least if compared with neighbouring EU Member States. It is impor...
  • The People behind the Projects - Interview with Richard Weber - NIF
    21-06-2010
    Blending loans and grants to finance investments for the Neighbourhood   The Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) is an innovative financial instrument of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), whose primary objective is to kick-start key infrastructure projects that require considerable...
  • The People behind the Projects - Interview with Frank Samol - CIUDAD
    17-06-2010
    Local authorities – a bridge across the neighbourhood   The Cooperation in Urban Development and Dialogue (CIUDAD) programme seeks primarily to promote cooperation and dialogue between local and regional authorities in the EU and ENPI partner countries. On the ground, CIUDAD aims to hel...
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