Север и рынок. 2014, N 3.

2013. A number o f projects were realized aiming at enhancing innovations and skills transfer across border (e.g. Crossborder innovations project), improving logistics (Refuse transport in the North Calotte area project), accelerating business growth (CIFA -North Business Accelerator), business networking (Barents Entrepreneur Advice), increasing export capacity o f SMEs and supporting trade in Northern region (Nordic Business Link 2.0 project). Some projects were initiated in the field o f education and innovation. Border crossing entrepreneurship project supported cooperation between trade, industry and school for creating incentives for the younger generation to stay in the area, while InnoPreneurship 21 aimed at strengthening entrepreneurship and innovation through education. In the field o f tourism, North Calotte network for Sustainable Tourism Development project aimed at improving collaboration among the tourism businesses in Norrbotten and Nordland counties (Interreg 2012). Although both Norrbotten and Nordland counties were involved in several projects in the framework o f Kolarctic ENPI CBC programme 2007-2013, no projects were realized with the participation o f both counties together. So far, the EU financed CBC projects had a fairly limited focus on tourism development in the border-region. Many actors from Kiruna and Narvik emphasize the importance o f East-West Arena conference for strengthening CBC. The conference is organized yearly since 2012 and aims at enhancing cooperation between North Sweden and North Norway in a field o f business development. A good example o f cross-border activities between Kiruna and Narvik is cooperation in the field o f rescue service operations, which is based on the framework agreement between Sweden and Norway. Another example from a completely different field is cooperation between Halogaland Ressursselskap (HRS) in Narvik and Tekniska Verken (TVAB) in Kiruna. HSR delivers industrial and household waste from several municipalities in Nordland to Kiruna, which is used by TVAB for energy production (HRS 2014). CBC impact on the border region CBS plays a crucial role in the development of both towns, as they are highly dependent on a synergy between iron ore production and trade which takes place across the border. The border area benefits from the industrial ‘marriage’ between Kiruna and Narvik through for example receiving large investments in infrastructure development. Construction o f a road between the two towns in 1978-1984 made commerce and cooperation much easier. Nowadays LKAB signalled o f a need for upgrading the Ofoten line to double tracks by 2020, which will allow for increasing iron ore traffic in the following years. Modernisation o f a shipping facility in Narvik is another ongoing project, where LKAB has already invested about 1 billion SEK (Regeringen 2008). The interviewed actors on both sides of the border claim that CBC had a positive impact on the development of the border region. All o f them, except for the representatives from the tourism industry, noted that CBC had improved throughout the years. “All curves are pointing upwards: mining industry, space industry and business development”, says one of the interviewees from Kiruna. The tourism stakeholders claim that there is far too little CBC taking place in the border area today. Some cooperation, mainly in a way of exchanging o f tips, coordinating the trips or development o f common tourist packages has taken place. However, the interest and need for strengthening the CBC is high, especially from the Swedish side. The remote areas outside Kiruna town, such as Abisko and Riksgransen, are almost entirely dependent on tourism development. Norwegian tourists are among the most important customers in this area. Tourism businesses in Norrbotten state that there is a lack o f support provided to tourism development from the municipal authorities. This also refers to improvement o f services, infrastructure and public transportation (train and busses). They note that there is a great demand but limited possibilities to get to tourist destinations. The tourism industries in Kiruna area suffer from limited flight connections, especially after 2009 when Norwegian withdrew their flights to Kiruna 116