More than 100 local and regional politicians, businessmen and others will be discussing practical questions regarding the agreement on visa-free travel between the two countries for people living within a 30-km zone to both sides of the border.
Nikel will host the first Norwegian-Russian cross-border cooperation days on November 11-13. (Photo: Trude Pettersen)
During a one-day seminar, the participants will be discussing bottlenecks and how they can be solved; how the border-crossing stations can be rebuilt to cope with the increasing number of travelers; how customs services on the border can be optimized and how business actors on both sides of the border can take advantage of the relaxed visa requirements.
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The second day of the event will be devoted to development of tourism in the border area. Many Norwegian tourist companies want to include the Russia in their excursion programs, for example has the Kirkenes-based Barents Safari applied for permission to take tourists on river boats into the Russian part of the Pasvik river near the village of Borisoglebsk. On the Western bank of the river, Russia has a 3.6 km² large “enclave” housing a Russian-Orthodox church.
The event In Nikel will have several high-ranking guests from national and regional levels in both countries, including Russia’s Vice Minister for Regional Development Maksim Travnikov, State Secretary Dag-Henrik Sandbakken from the Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and the governors from the neighboring counties Finnmark and Murmansk – Runar Sjåstad and Dmitry Dmitriyenko.
Read also: Consider joint border crossing facility
