March 2, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The Vitebsk Culture Centre and the Daugavpils Centre of Latvian Culture have launched a joint project "Daugavpils and Vitebsk: Cultural Cooperation and Development" under the Latvia - Lithuania - Belarus cross-border cooperation programme. The project presentation took place today in Vitebsk, reports a BELTA correspondent. "This project is a logical continuation of the long-standing cultural ties between Vitebsk and Daugavpils and is designed to promote the dissemination of knowledge about the national cultures and folklore of Belarus and Latvia," stressed Rodion Bass, General Director of the Vitebsk Culture Centre. The project envisages joint cultural events: celebration of the traditional national holidays Kupala Night and Līgo with the participation of Belarusian and Latvian creative groups, using historical and folklore themes aimed at preserving and popularising folklore traditions and customs in the border regions; organisation of concerts; implementation of cultural exchange programmes; provision of the Belarusian Honoured Amateur Ensemble "Lyavonikha" of the Vitebsk Culture Centre with Belarusian musical instruments, stage costumes and accessories, and training of the ensemble's participants in new dance productions by a choreographer from Latvia; reconstruction of the summer stage of the Soviet Army Cultural and Leisure Complex, a branch of the Vitebsk Culture Centre. All this will contribute to the main goal of the project: to provide the opportunity to hold various events, including international ones, aimed at popularising national cultures, customs and traditions at a higher technical level. In particular, Latvian choreographers will give a master class in Vitebsk on March 24-25, and on April 8-9, creative groups from the Vitebsk Culture Centre will perform concerts in Daugavpils. For the first time in Vitebsk this year, Kupala Night will be widely celebrated, and in November, the "Daugava" brass band will perform in Vitebsk in honour of Latvia's Independence Day. In 2013, master classes by Vitebsk choreographers in Daugavpils and the participation of groups from the Vitebsk Culture Centre in the celebration of the folk festival Līgo are planned. The project implementation is scheduled for 2012-2013. The total budget is EUR 296.8 thousand. The budget for the Belarusian part of the project is EUR 109.9 thousand, including EUR 98.9 thousand from the European Commission funds.