“Cooperation that brings, glues, and keeps everything and everybody together” – CBC experiences in Georgia and Armenia
CBC program and project managers in Georgia and Armenia talk about how cross border cooperation has brought tourism, regional development, economic cohesion and management/administrative skills to their countries – and most importantly, how it has brought people together.
When David Bujiashvili arrived in Europe for the first time and saw Brussels, he decided to take part of Europe back with him to Georgia. However, he didn’t go for any of the famous Brussels souvenirs from the Grand Place, or for Belgian chocolates or even Kriek beer. What David wanted to bring back was European values.
“I remember my first foreign trip was to Brussels. It was actually a main incentive and I realized what the European Union is for me: the way our country should go.”
Eight years on, David comes to Brussels every few months to attend meetings of the cross border cooperation (CBC) programs. He is now the deputy head of the EU assistance programs department at the Ministry for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Georgia, which is the national authority for CBC. David has been responsible for implementing many EU and Euro-Atlantic programs/projects in Georgia but, as he says, the Black Sea Basin ENPI CBC is one of the few programs that support the participation of NGOs and municipalities at a regional level. Georgian organizations cooperate in projects with partners mostly from Armenia, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria. David says: “In CBC projects it is not important where you come from or what are the cultural or political differences between you. The key word is “cooperation” - this brings, glues and keeps everything and everybody together within, and sometimes beyond, the project.”
So far, Georgia has participated in two calls for proposals, where local stakeholders (NGOs and regional organizations) were invited to come up with ideas for projects to develop within the limited budget and strict deadlines. The response was enthusiastic and through the CBC component of the ENPI, 35 projects have now been financed and developed involving Georgian organizations. For David, some of the most inspiring projects are those with an environmental focus looking to develop agro, eco and wine tourism. Thanks to CBC, these sectors are becoming more and more popular in the Georgian Kakhetia region.
“We don’t have a sufficient budget to support big infrastructural projects like building roads or bridges, but we build people-to–people cooperation, and that’s another important type of bridge.”
David at work in his office in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Photo courtesy of the Black Sea Basin ENPI CBC Program.
David is confident that the CBC programs and cooperation with regional and European partners has brought Georgian NGOs, and Georgia itself, a step closer to Europe. CBC projects support the main goal of the country which is to get closer to the EU through intensifying cooperation at the level of civil society, of municipalities, and even of state organizations.
Georgia’s southern neighbor, Armenia, is a landlocked country in which cross border initiatives are mainly projected and implemented with, or via, Georgia. However, as part of ENPI CBC, Armenia is also currently participating in several projects financed under the Black Sea Basin ENPI CBC program, which involves cooperation not only with neighboring Georgia, but also with EU Member States.
Black Sea-Silk Road Corridor (BSSRC) is the first, but hopefully not the last, EU project which the Armenian Monuments Awareness Project (AMAP) NGO has participated in. The founder of this NGO is an American enthusiast, Richard Ney, who came to Armenia 22 years ago, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, at a time when Armenia had no official relations with Europe. He fell in love with the country and since then has done everything possible to broadcast his enthusiasm and to get others to visit. For the past two years he has done this through the Black Sea-Silk Road Corridor project. The western part of the route historically known as the Silk Road, passing through Greece, Turkey, Georgia and Armenia, is now a unique 3000 kilometers of cooperation between those four countries.
The project partners have followed the traditional trail to create a modern touristic route, where the historical-cultural sites are clearly marked, with information panels, and signs on the monuments. A smartphone application for a virtual tour is now in development.
Richard says, “We share the same vision as our Georgian partners: these are incredibly beautiful and compelling places to visit, but people do not know about them. However many people have come to the South Caucasus so far, it’s just a fraction of those who could come.”
In the space of 24 months, 192 historical sites were marked, not only on the real but also the virtual roads in Armenia, Georgia, Greece and Turkey. Project implementation will be completed by 7 January 2015.
A billboard being erected for the Black Sea Silk Road Corridor project.
Photo courtesy of the Black Sea Basin ENPI CBC Program.
For Richard: “Cross border effort is particularly important because this is a difficult part of the world. Armenia and Georgia are going in different political directions right now, but at the fundamental, humanistic level, people love to meet people, people love to cooperate, and people prefer not to fight. That is why when you cross borders, you cross cultures.”
Another CBC project in Armenia is aimed at enhancing economic competitiveness in the Black Sea region countries. The Local/Regional Economic Development Network (LRED net) project facilitates Armenia’s cooperation with partners in Greece, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Bulgaria.
Project manager Hrachya Zakoyan says: “Both enhancing export-oriented sectors and decreasing uneven development among the regions are priorities for the Armenian economy. We expect that implementing the LRED-Net project will have a positive influence on Armenia as well as on other partner countries.”
Hrachya believes that any kind of cooperation with Europe has a positive effect, although Caucasian countries are not yet used to the particularity of the rules governing the EU programs. But through cooperation they hope to enrich their technical skills and increase their degree of professionalism. “Caucasian diligence fits well with the European experience,” says Hrachya.
The Armenian Ministry of Economy has been the national coordinator for ENPI instruments in Armenia since 2006. As chief specialist, Marina Minasyan states that the implementation of the Black Sea Basin program has been particularly challenging. It has involved raising public awareness in Armenia about the advantages of cooperating across borders. Young, passionate people at the department of EU affairs have carried out the main work.
She recalls, “There was a fear that we might fail after all. But now we’re happy to see that even after the project has been implemented, finalized and closed, countries continue to cooperate -we have become like friends or family.”
Marina and her colleague, Amalia Hovsepyan, at work in Yerevan, Armenia.
Photo courtesy of the Black Sea Basin ENPI CBC Program.
Sometimes the local organizations implementing the projects weren’t even aware of how difficult and challenging it was to launch the program and to make the cooperation happen through overcoming bureaucratic, legislative, cultural, and indeed actual, borders. But, once a year, ENPI CBC participants and program partners gather to discuss plans and results, and to admire just how big the CBC family has grown.