The total financial resource of EU programs available to Belarus exceeds 330 million euros

November 25, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The total financial resource of the European Union's international technical assistance programs available to Belarus amounts to over 330 million euros. This was announced by Leonid Orlov, Executive Director of the EU TACIS Program Coordination Bureau, today in Vitebsk at a regional conference of EU TACIS program projects, according to a BELTA correspondent. A significant portion of these funds (more than 300 million euros) is intended for the implementation of interregional technical assistance programs for information exchange TAIEX, partnership between EU universities and partner countries, transnational cooperation programs "Baltic Sea Region", cross-border cooperation "Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus", "Poland-Belarus-Ukraine" and thematic programs such as "Environmental Protection and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources, including Energy". As Leonid Orlov noted, these European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument programs are being implemented from 2007 to 2013 and include projects developed based on applications. For example, 11 projects involving the Belarusian side have been approved for participation in the "Baltic Sea Region" program, applications for participation in the "Poland-Belarus-Ukraine" program are accepted until March 2010, and a call for projects for the "Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus" program will be announced by the end of 2009. About 30 million euros are allocated to programs where projects are implemented based on technical specifications. For example, the national indicative program for 2007-2010 is currently being implemented, one of the goals of which is to reduce the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Health of Belarus have also begun developing a technical specification for the flagship project "Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters," which will be implemented within the framework of the "Eastern Partnership" program. -0-