The European Commission approved the regional information and communication programme (2011-2013), worth € 14 million and targeting the 16 Neighbourhood partners. This programme will aim at improving the comprehension and the visibility of the EU policy and co-operation in the neighbouring countries.

Commissioner  responsible for enlargement and European neighbourhood policy, Stefan Füle commented that in the light of the recent challenges facing the region and forthcoming review of the EU neighbourhood policy (ENP), which is likely to see quite significant changes to the EU's policy in this region, it is particularly timely that the regional information and communication programme is launched.

The overall objective of this regional programme is to improve the knowledge of the EU policy, its relation with the European Neighbourhood Partnership Instrument (ENPI) beneficiaries' countries and its co-operation policy among the wider public. It covers the 16 countries benefiting from the ENP instrument and will focus on better access to comprehension among the wider public.

This programme will have three components which consist in a training and networking programme for journalists, a media monitoring and opinion polling project, and an interactive web portal to support the dissemination of ENP and ENPI related information.