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The town pair has developed a rather sophisticated and innovative arsenal of policy strategies that
aim at twins‘ capacity-building, problem-solving (implying issues to be dealt with on the local
political agenda) and cultural interaction (to increase familiarity).
To overcome a divisive effect of state borders, the twins initiated the introduction of a visa-free
regime for the local residents that – upon its approval at the central governments‘ level –facilitated
the cross-border exchanges to a greater extent. This experiment can be seen as a near-success story
and its experiences can be replicated in other border areas between Russia and the European
countries belonging to the Schengen zone. However, it should be noted that this experiment did not
turn the Norwegian-Russian border from a divisive line to a borderland which serves as a zone for
cooperation and unites rather than divides people. Despite the existence of a dense network of
economic and humanitarian contacts between them, Kirkenes and Nikel still do not form a unified
entity and are far from being a EuroCity model as demonstrated by the Tornio-Haparanda case.
As experts (Figenschou, 2011; Haugseth, 2013; Joenniemi and Sergunin, 2012; Nyseth and Viken,
2009) point out, there are some serious obstacles both to the implementation of the existing
twinning projects and transformation of the inter-municipal cooperation to a more advanced and
far-reaching form of collaboration. The bureaucratic barriers, visa-related problems, the lack of
funding and political will on the Russian side (which is explained by the reluctance of the regional
and federal authorities to support in full the twinning experiment), the delay with the establishment
of the Pomor special economic zone (which was seen as an additional spur for the twinning project)
should be mentioned among the factors that prevented the Kirkenes-Nikel twinning project from
becoming another success story and generated quite modest results.
But looking at the bright side of the story, it appears, in general, that in spite of the above obstacles
the twinning project has reasonably good prospects of growth for the foreseeable future as part of
increased cooperation between Norway and Russia. As mentioned, the Kirkenes-Nikel pair plans to
join the CTA if the project succeeds. In any case, their decision to become city twins seems to
indicate that the concept of twinning has retained its attractiveness in northern Europe, and has also
become of interest for some of the states of the region to advance and support.
References
Barents Observer. (11 December 2011). Murmansk will be closer to Kirkenes. Retrieved September
28, 2013 from,
http://barentsobserver.com/ru/obshchestvo/murmansk-stanet-blizhe-k-
kirkenesu
.
Belova, L. (2011, 17 September). Sotrudnichestvo [Cooperation].
Pechenga
. Retrieved August 1, 2013
from,
http://pechenga-gazeta.ru/index.jsp?view=article&id=4777http://pechenga-
gazeta.ru/index.jsp?view=article&id=4777.
Brednikova, O. & Voronkov, V. (1999). Granitsy i restrukturirovaniye sotsialnogo prostranstva
[Borders and the restructuring of a social space], in O. Brednikova & V. Voronkov. (Eds.).
Kochuyushchieye granitsy
[Migrant borders] (pp. 19-25). Saint Petersburg: CIRP.