Summary

Administration of State financial instruments

The SRDA provides administration for previously started State funded programmes "Development of Specially Supported Territories" and "Income Tax Relief for the Development of Enterprises in Specially Supported Territories", and since 2007 has administrated five new national support instruments for the development of local municipalities – "Support for Local Municipality Investment projects", "Earmarked Subsidies to the Local Municipalities for Providing Free Internet and Computer Access at Local Municipality Libraries", "Earmarked Subsidies to Planning Regions, Districts, and Local Municipalities for Developing Territorial Planning and Amendments thereof", "Earmarked Subsidies for the Activities of the Local Municipalities", and "Support for the Development of Territorial Infrastructure".

Administration of the EU fund activities

Since 2004, the SRDA has provided administration for the grant scheme co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund "Support for Investment in Business Development in Specially Supported Territories".

In the programming period of the EU funds for 2007-2013, since 2008 the SRDA has provided the functions of cooperation authority for seven other EU Fund financed activities – "Attracting Specialists to the Planning Regions, Cities and Amalgamated Local Municipalities", ”Promoting the Administrative and Development Planning Capacity of Planning Regions and Local Municipalities", "Development of Nursery School Infrastructure at Development Centres of National and Regional Importance", "Support for the Development of Accessible Alternative Social Care Services", "Support for the Development of Internet Points Accessible to the Public","Promoting the Development Centres of National and Regional Importance for Balanced Development of the Country", "Sustainable Development of the City of Rīga".

During the EU fund programming period 2007-2013, the SRDA as a cooperation institution ensures the implementation of the activities co-financed by the ERDF and ESF for more than 200 million lats.

Management of the grant scheme of the Norwegian financial instrument

In accordance with a contract signed between the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Latvia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, the SRDA is administrating from 2008 to 2010, the grant scheme "Short Term Expert Fund" co-financed by the bilateral financial instrument of the Norwegian government.

The objective of these programmes is to address the problems identified in the National Development Plan, by adjusting and improving the infrastructure of local municipalities in order to attract investments and promote the accessibility to services for the population in the territories of local municipalities.

Analysis and assessment of statistical information

One of the main lines of SRDA activities is analytical work involving assessment of territorial development, defining the development trends and the impact analysis of the development support instruments. For analysis, sets of sectoral, demographic and social-economic indicators are used, as for monitoring regional policy, regular and systematic collection, processing and analysis of quantified information on the financial resources of implementing the support instruments for regional development and the result indicators in the State territories are of prime importance. It has been envisaged to provide the necessary statistical indicators for the needs of the Monitoring and Assessment System of regional development as well as to assess the statistical information which, in its stead, will serve as a basis for further analytical work in addressing the issues of state development.

In order to have success in the above mentioned analytical work, and do quality assessment of the impact of various development planning documents on the whole country or separate territories, the SRDA in cooperation with the Ministry of Regional Development and Local Governments is preparing the Regional Development Monitoring and Assessment System (RDMAS).

Thematic research

The SRDA is doing thematic research based an the data and figures available and taking into account the qualitative and sectoral information, necessary for assessing regional policy and planning the development of the country. The analysis of the statistical information forms the basis both for choosing the research themes and for doing the research.

A separate research field is development modeling scenario building and forecasting. It has been envisaged to prepare different development indicator models, to use statistical and expert evaluation methods in forecasting and modeling development, as well as to do analysis of the logical connection of the RDMAS with the indicators of the state development planning documents and prepare recommendations for their assessment.

First level financial control

From 2004 to 2006, the SRDA carried out the first level financial control of Latvia's partners in projects approved within several European Community programmes: INTERREG III A, INTERREG III B, INTERREG III C, ESPON, INTERACT and URBACT. For the planning period of 2007 -2013 the SRDA is providing first level financial control within the framework of new Territorial Cooperation programmes: Baltic Sea Region Programme, Latvia-Lithuania Cross-border Cooperation Programme, Estonia-Latvia Cross-border Cooperation Programme and Central Baltic Programme.

The first level financial control includes an assessment of the accounting, efficiency and correspondence of the tasks performed within the framework of the projects with the planned result, as well as a check-up of the tangible and intangible assets acquired or created during the implementation of the projects and the activities organized.

E-services and e-procurement

Since June 1, 2009 the SRDA is in charge of the functions of the Secretariat of the Special Assignments Minister for Electronic Government Affairs, and thus it is now responsible for implementation of the e-procurements and the e-services.

The SRDA maintains and develops the unified state and municipal services' internet site www.latvija.lv, where categorised links to Latvian internet resources offer a possibility for a centralized access to various electronic services offered by different state and municipal institutions.

The SRDA also manages the Electronic Procurement System available at www.eiepirkumi.gov.lv. This is the first e-procurement system in the Baltic States, which organizes the procurements in a unified manner.

Transnational cooperation projects

One of the SRDA fields of activity is raising foreign financial resources and participating in transnational activities, ensuring thus exchange of information and experience and promoting the SRDA objectives more effectively. The SRDA participates in bilateral and cross-border cooperation projects as well as in implementing the financial programmes of foreign countries.

EU Territorial Cooperation Programmes Office

Since 2008 the SRDA ensures the operation of the EU Territorial Programmes Office, under which two information points and three Joint Technical Secretariats are operating.

European territorial cooperation programmes are promoting project implementation on the cross-border, country and cross-regional level during the EU structural fund programming period for 2007-2013. Each programme has its own priority areas and territory of operation.

Vision and strategies around the Baltic Sea (VASAB) Secretariat

Since 2007 the SRDA ensures the administrative operation of the VASAB Secretariat, the main task of which is to coordinate the cooperation of the Baltic Sea Region countries in the issues of spacial development.

A short history on establishment of the State Regional Development Agency is available here

vraa@vraa.gov.lv