News

The EU Commission is now welcoming applications for regional and local youth projects for international programs and contacts within the project Youth in Action. The funding opportunities for youth exchange programs and regional transbording projects are confined to within other EU states, Croatia and Turkey. The application is due on the 3rd of November 2011, and the projects are to be initiated between the 1st of March 2012 to the 1st of September 2012.

More information and application forms are available here. 

The Baltic meetings, the annual event of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg and the “Ambassador” hotel took place on 9 December 2009 in St. Petersburg and featured the fourth Baltic evening and the forum “Nordic countries and North-West Russia: economic, legal cooperation and development of civil society”. The Information office of the Nordic Council of Ministers in St. Petersburg was the co-organiser of the 2009 event. This year the event focused on cooperation of the Nordic countries and the North-West Russia in the sphere of economy and support of small and medium businesses, legal cooperation, including anticorruption measures as well as civil society development and media.

The PEOPLE programme was launched on 17 June 2009 with a call for proposals inviting local and sub-regional stakeholders to participate with innovative ideas and solutions to respond to the challenges brought about by changing demographics and different life-styles faced by most European regions. A maximum of 10 sub-projects will be funded covering the six themes. A sub-project, in order to eligible must be performed by a cluster of public entities from a minimum of three participating regions. The close of the call and deadline for the submission of bids is 15 September 2009.

Please find more information here.

Local authorities are called to take part in European eGovernment Awards. The deadline for applications is 10 June 2009. The European Commission will present the 4th edition of the prestigious European eGovernment Awards at the 5th EU eGovernment Conference. The forthcoming Swedish Presidency of the EU and the European Commission will jointly organise the 5th European Ministerial Conference on eGovernment in Sweden on 19-20 November 2009, where an exhibition of more than 50 finalists showcasing best eGovernment practices will be presented.

Please find more information here

Committee for External relation of St. Petersburg Government and the Nordic Council of Ministers have recently initiated the cooperation project focusing on small and medium businesses (SME). The project included the study visit to Sweden (Stockholm) and Norway (Oslo and Stavanger) from 15 till 22 March 2009. The official delegation included members of St. Petersburg Administration dealing with external relations, information technologies and communications, economic development and trade as we as labour and employment issues.

The programme of the study trip was worked out together with Stockholm, Oslo and Stavanger Administrations within the frames of the cooperation agreements with St. Petersburg and focused on:

• SMEs priorities in the Nordic countries

• policies of state support for small and medium sized enterprises

• successful practical examples of SMEs, including innovations.

In Stockholm the delegation was hosted by the County Administrative Board of Stockholm and among many visited Kista Science City, Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, as well as Hammarby Sjöstad district, ALMI and Envac companies.

As the next step of the project, an international conference will be held in St. Petersburg on 26 May 2009 with specific emphasis on Russian and Nordic models for support of small and medium enterprises.

Stockholm recently received the participants of the study trip organised by the Government of St. Petersburg, the Stockholm County Administrative Board and the Nordic Council of Ministers. The group of St. Petersburg civil servants included governmental officials and deputy heads of city districts administrations dealing with social security. The group traveled to Stockholm from 30 March till 3 April. The second group visits Sweden on 20 – 24 April 2009.

The aim of the study trips is to present the Swedish welfare system and cross-sector cooperation of social, medial and legal institutions enabling the Russian participants to adapt gained knowledge in their work and strengthen the public social security system in St. Petersburg. Stockholm County Administrative Board plays the vital role of coordinating the visit. The programme of the visits include presentations of the social projects of the Stockholm County Administrative Board, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and Children’s Ombudsman, several public organisations including national shelter network for women and children and department for alcohol and drug abuse prevention. Besides, the groups learn about international cooperation projects with Russia at the Secretariat of the Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-Being (NDPHS) and the Secretariat of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS).

Due to the resignation of Mayor Kristina Axén Olin Stockholm has a new mayor. Sten Nordin was appointed mayor in the end of April. Mr Nordin has a solid political background both in Stockholm Stad and on the national level.

According to the World Economic Forum's annual report Global Competitiveness Report, presented on the 31^st October, Sweden is ranked in the fourth position. The rank is based on the combination of interview with enterprise leader and official statistics. The United States tops the overall ranking followed by Switzerland and Denmark.

Of the 55 countries ranked in World Competitiveness Yearbook, Sweden has climbed from the 14^th place to the 9^th place in the ranking.

In the ranking of foreign direct investment, one of the most important measurements of attraction of a country, Sweden ranked in the 12^th place, which is the highest ranking since 1999.

The ranking of Stockholm region is in the 22^nd place in European Cities Monitor. The list is based on interviews with over 500 enterprise leaders in Europe and market elements such as availability of working force, quality of telecommunication and transport.