VITEBSK, 25 February (BelTA) – The Latgale region of Latvia and Vitebsk Oblast will run an international technical aid project “Fostering home-based self-employment opportunities” as part of the cross-border cooperation program Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus, BelTA learnt from the Association of Employers and Entrepreneurs (Vitebsk).

The association underlined that the major objective of the project is to increase economic activity of artisans. “Many of them create original and unique hand-made items, however, they lack the necessary business skills and knowledge to promote their products on the market,” the association explained. One of the goals of the project is to develop a specialized web-platform in Russian, Latvian and English to educate craftsmen about business opportunities and enable communication between them. The web-platform will also give them an opportunity to demonstrate their products.

“A number of training sessions will be arranged to teach artisans how to make use of the web-platform and how to sell their products. These seminars will be held in Latvia and Belarus,” the association informed. The project will help implement Decree No. 225 “Concerning craft activity of physical persons” dated 16 May 2005.

Some 1,279 artisans are officially registered in Vitebsk Oblast.

The international technical aid project “Fostering home-based self-employment opportunities” was approved by Council of Ministers’ Resolution No. 1167 dated 30 December 2013. It is implemented using the resources of the EU as part of the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument.

In Latgale the project will be run by the Verus Foundation, in Vitebsk Oblast by the Association of Employers and Entrepreneurs with assistance of the Center of Folk Crafts and Arts Dvina (Vitebsk).