The Ministry of Economy and Trade (MET) informs the interested public about the possibility of attending the public debate on the Joint Operational Programme ENPI CBC Romania-Ukraine-Moldova 2007-2013. Those concerned can access on the Ministry’s website the programme presentation, the Programme itself and the environmental Report for the programme implementation. All interested people and institutions can also send comments and proposals to MET or to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. A public debate on the mentioned documents will take place on August 24, at MET. The estimated budget for the programme is financed by the European Commission and reaches 126 mln EUR, which will be allotted as a non-refundable grant for a number of project proposals on trans-border cooperation. The grant will also fund projects of socio-economic infrastructure, tourism promotion, environmental works, seminars, trainings, conferences, etc. The potential grant recipients can be the local and regional authorities, NGOs and other representative associations. Romania will be the partner or the project leader in these joint projects. The general and specific criteria for project selection will be approved by a Monitoring Committee, proposed by the Management Authority (Ministry of European Integration of Romania). The selection process will take into consideration the existence of a partner on the other side of the border, the administrative capacity, the technical part and the finance. Each project needs to have at least one Romanian partner and the other partner Ukrainian or Moldovan. The program engages to stimulate its own development potential by assisting the contact between the two sides of the border, for a better socio-economic and environmental situation.