After the accession of Poland and Lithuania to the EU the Kaliningrad region is sharing land borders with the EU countries. This situation creates a number of serious problems for the Kaliningrad region. At the same time it opens unique long-term possibilities for the region’s development and helps local companies to enter European markets. A special mission of the Kaliningrad region is to accelerate its social and economic development and to become a pilot area of real Russia-EU partnership, where new effective models of international cooperation could be tested.

At present, the Kaliningrad region is one of the five Federal centre’s priorities. The federal authorities give much attention to the region: a new Law on the Special Economic Zone and a concept of the Federal Policy towards the Kaliningrad Region are being developed. The FTP for development of the Kaliningrad region up to year 2010 envisages implementation of a number of large infrastructural projects.

The European Community is also giving much attention to the development of the Kaliningrad region. The project EUROPEAID/114287/C/SV/RU "Support for the Regional Development of Kaliningrad" is a good example of such assistance.