The Via Baltica Nordica is a coherent development corridor stretching from Berlin to Mo i Rana in Norway. The idea is not to construct or develop the Via Baltica road connection as such, but to develop the regions located along the corridor by means of transnational co-operation. More than 40 cities, municipalities, regions and other development organisations from Finland, Sweden, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland participate in the project. In addition, the Kaliningrad region takes part in the project as an observer. Regional Council of Häme is the lead partner and co-ordinator of the project. Main themes of the project are tourism, accessibility of railway traffic, landscape planning and GIS.The BSR Interreg III B co-finances the Via Baltica Nordica project with 2,1 million euros during the period 2002-2005. Total budget of the project including national co-financing and Phare CBC financing is over 3,3 million euros. Extensiveness of the project activities and size of the total budget and EU funding make the project one of the biggest in the BSR Interreg III B programme.The Via Baltica Nordica is a coherent development corridor stretching from Berlin to Mo i Rana in Norway. The idea of the project was not to construct or develop the Via Baltica road connection as such, but to develop the regions located along the corridor by means of transnational co-operation. More than 40 cities, municipalities, regions and other development organisations from Finland, Sweden, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland participated in the project. In addition, the Kaliningrad region took part in the project as an observer. The project goal was to contribute to the economical and spatial development of the VBN corridor through increased awareness and strengthening the identity, taking the principles of sustainable development into account. The foci of the project activities should concentrate on: tourism and railway traffic, cultural landscape management and tourism, usage of GIS/Internet systems. The project was a combination of concrete, very local activities and the true transnational dimension, insured by the forum to be organised regularly.Combining concrete, local activities and the true transnational dimension has been the most challenging task during the Via Baltica Nordica project. Exchange of experiences and expertise is therefore a key element of the project. All the project partners participate in the Via Baltica Nordica umbrella, which includes transnational administration and activities, such as annual Via Baltica Nordica Forums. Achievements: The project implemented a development strategy created for the Zone as a main outcome of the BSR Interreg II C project Via Baltica Spatial Development Zone. Co-operation between the participating Via Baltica Nordica regions has deepened and got more concrete forms (e.g. bilateral agreements between partners).Project partners got benefits from the results of the pilot projects but also from transnational networking. International experiences have been used as a reference for regional and local decision-making. Project partners have improved their capacities for working with the international partnership. Project has been a learning process for managing, co-ordinating and utilizing international networking and EU financing, and it also brought together innovative partnership also on national level. E.g. Finnish tourism routes have co-operated under the VBN framework more closely than ever. Also the Swedish partnership has brought together actors from national, regional and local level, and from different sectors in a creative way.Synergies between the three themes – railway traffic, tourism, and GIS - have been even stronger than expected. Implementation of the pilot projects got the full speed in 2003 and main part of the concrete results took place in 2004-2005: development concepts, land use plans, marketing strategies, information and guidance systems, sophisticated internet-solutions and small scale construction investments. Project partners in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland got all positive Phare CBC financing decisions in 2003 and implemented the Phare project activities by the end of 2004.Examples of outputs and direct accumulated results of the project can be found on the project website, to be continued after the finalisation.Co-operation between the regions lies on solid bases - Via Baltica Nordica Forums will be organized annually also in the future, not depending on external project financing. Homepage: www.viabalticanordica.com