Employees of the Department of Strategic Development and Investment took part in the discussion "Beyond closed borders: cross-border cooperation of Ukraine and the EU in the times of Covid"

In addition, due to the pandemic, the implementation of infrastructure projects is delayed, and "soft" projects are on hold, waiting for better times.

Iryna Sushko, head of the NGO "Europe Without Barriers", believes that work in the online format should be accepted and come to terms with the fact that the EU will open its borders no earlier than the fall of 2021. At this time, it is worth working on internal communication, conducting training for those who do not have experience in cross-border cooperation, training local self-government bodies to attract international funding and involving OTG in micro-projects. It is also important to have a good history of cooperation with international partners, and now is the best time to focus and solve problems with the implementation of previous projects.

The Department of Strategic Development and Investment also implements the project "Cultural heritage of the kitchen - promotion of culinary traditions through the professionalization of the gastronomic offer of Lublin and Rivne" within the framework of the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine Cross-Border Cooperation Program 2014-2020, in partnership with the Administration of the City of Lublin and the NGO "Agency" sustainable development of the city". In the conditions of the pandemic, we had to accept challenges and hold not only all working meetings with partners online, but also reorient most of the project's activities to an online format.