Transborder Café: Still Building Neighbourhood

The Transborder Café returns during Barents Spektakel 2021 to bring the most important cross-border debate and discussion to the eyes and ears of the Barents Region and beyond.

Crossing borders and interacting with our neighbours is an essential part of being a Barents citizen – for decades, people in the different regions have been used to crossing borders; for trade and exchange of goods, and in recent years, for shopping, tourism and cooperation. The ‘Barents Generation’ – people who have never experienced a time with closed borders – are today on their way to becoming the decision-makers and leaders of our societies. Their experiences of cross-border cooperation and border crossings give the region a unique advantage.

Using digital solutions, Thursday’s edition of the Transborder Café, organised by Barents Secretariat, centres on the newly published report “Still Building Neighbourhood”, that shows how the transfer of knowledge has always been (and continues to be) a recurrent theme in the cooperation between Norwegian and Russian partners.

What does this report say about cooperation, trust, and ideas of equal partnerships? What are the lasting effects of these networks? And how do we maintain them through the present challenges?

We seek to find the essential pieces to the puzzle, and to understand what creates a good neighbourhood in the Barents Borderlands, as well as the obstacles that might complicate these visions. The discussion will include panelists from Norway and Russia through representatives from academia, civil society, and the Barents Secretariat.

Panelists include:
– Dr Jørn Holm-Hansen – Researcher at Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research,
– Dr Ingrid Agnete Medby – Senior Lecturer in Political Geography At Oxford Brookes University
– Lars Georg Fordal – Head of the Norwegian Barents Secretariat
– Vera Arntsen – International Coordinator Barents Sport, Barents Games
– Valentina Likhoshva – Psychologist and Human Rights activist
– Ilia Kuzubov – Manager in the area of culture and art

Moderator: Torill Olsen
Host in Murmansk: Maria Matveeva

Barents-Quiz-Show: Daria Bolkhovskaya, Sonya Poguts, Anastasia Mostovaya, Roman Gladyshev
Music: Piotr Makarov