The Promotion of Balanced Regional Development Act defines border problem areas as priority areas of all development policies; Slovenian regional policy has been paying particular attention to them since 1971 with the aim of reducing their development lag by implementing various measures. This master's thesis examines, using the case of the Obsotelje area, how their development is promoted, what it means to be declared a border problem area in the context of regional policy, and what role cross-border cooperation plays in promoting regional development. An analysis of the current development situation of Obsotelje according to selected socio-economic indicators was carried out and coupled with an overview of the implementation of development measures for border problem areas during the 2007–2022 period. Qualitative evaluation of the impacts that measures for border problems areas and cross-border project cooperation have on its regional development was done by interviewing local development stakeholders. Their perception of border and what the main development opportunities and obstacles for Obsotelje are was also examined. The findings show that the implementation of development incentives for border problem areas is rather inconsistent and mostly takes the form of financial help for businesses in these areas. There are very few measures aimed at developing other sectors, which is why the promotion of regional development of border problem areas should be strengthened in the future.
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