The project will promote the facilities of the region’s small and medium-sized enterprises to launch co-operation in the regions of the Karelian Republic and north-western Russia. The activities have been divided to three priorities (areas of focus); co-operation between mine towns, promotion of subcontracting activities and promotion of timber trade. The mine town part will study e.g. the possibilities to launch business co-operation between the mines of Pyhäsalmi and Kostamuksha. The subcontracting part will study, in co-operation with the region’s enterprises, the possibilities to establish IT sector joint ventures and to start duty-free raw material import and assembly production in Russia. The part of timber trade in co-operation with the region’s enterprises will search for opportunities to import wood raw material from Russia.