A cross-border journalist forum for local and regional media is being organised by the Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2007-2013 in the Ukrainian city of Lviv on 15 December 2010. The forum will give journalists from regions participating in the programme the opportunity to discuss border area development, and exchange opinions on - and establish - cross-border cooperation.

The forum will be organised into three thematic groups: development of entrepreneurship and infrastructure; tourism, social and cultural integration of the border area; and environmental protection, educational and scientific integration of the border area. A publication summarising all opinions, ideas and proposals from the forum will be published after the event in order to encourage continued dialogue.

The Programme’s Joint Technical Secretariat has pledged to continue the development of media cooperation among the programme’s participating regions. The participating regions in Belarus are Minsk and Minsk Oblast, Grodno Oblast, Brest Oblast and Gomel Oblast, while the participating regions in Ukraine are Lvivska, Volynska, Zakarpatska, Ternopilska, Rivnenska and Ivano-Frankivska Oblasts.

The official agenda will be announced on 6 December. Costs for attending the forum, including participants’ travel and expenses, will be financed by the Cross-border Cooperation Programme.

The core objective of the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine Cross-border Cooperation Programme is support for cross-border development processes. Programme objectives will be realised through non-commercial projects implemented within the following priorities and measures: Priority 1 Increasing competitiveness of the border area. Priority 2 Improving the quality of life. Priority 3 Networking and people-to-people cooperation

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