Being a pilot region is Immanent of Kaliningrad region.

À. Petrovich. From the unpublished

None of the subjects of the Russian Federation has become such a subject of negotiations of Russia with the European countries, as the Kaliningrad region. Few of them so actively and for such a long time are involved in the system of international cooperation at different levels and in various forms.

The transition to a qualitatively new stage of participation of the Kaliningrad region in the general European integration processes can be provided through its transformation in a pilot region of cooperation with the European Union. This idea, promoted by Russia as far back as October 1999, is getting increasingly large support in both Russian and European expert community. Skeptical attitude to this concept as to a futureless project is also expressed. However, it should be noted, that the region is actually already playing de facto the role of such region. Unlike any other subject of Russian Federation, it is fated to actively interact with its European neighbours. For a long time it has served as ‘an acid test’ of relations between Russia and the European Union. And, finally, if "a pilot region" is understood as a territory where new forms and mechanisms of cooperation are tested to be consequently duplicated in other places, the Kaliningrad region already fulfilling this function. For example, it is the first among the Russian Federation subjects that became an active participant of the Euroregional movement, cooperating at the same time in several Euroregions, and now the whole North-Western Federal Area of Russia is involved in this movement.

Certainly, there are no guarantees of full success of the process of development of the Kaliningrad region as a pilot region of partnership of Russia and the European Union. Negative results are also possible in some directions. Nevertheless, this does not negate the fruitfulness of the idea as a whole.

On its part, the Regional Development Agency, is developing practical measures for implementation of the "pilot region" concept.

"Support to transforming Kaliningrad region into a pilot region of Russian-EU cooperation" (pdf, 391 Êb) East–West Institute, Kaliningrad Regional Development Agency, Kaliningrad, 2003

N. Cmorodinskaya: Kaliningrad exclave: Prospect of transformation into a pilot region (pdf, 422 Êb). Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kaliningrad Regional Development Agency, East–West Institute. Ìoscow, 2001.