Today Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Elisa Ferreira has opened with a video-message the 13th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) in Lappeenranta, Finland.
- 28 September 2022
The main two-day forum will focus on, among other topics, the challenges of energy security and climate change, societal security, the green and digital transitions, and crisis resilience. Over 500 participants have registered for the event, the high level participants of which include Pekka Haavisto, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Krista Mikkonen, Finnish Minister of the Interior, Maria Ohisalo, Finnish Minister of Environment, as well as several representatives from DG REGIO, MARE and CLIMA.
Commissioner Ferreira said: “In these uncertain times, deepening macro-regional cooperation is more important than ever in helping the Baltic Sea Region to establish new trade, research, cultural and other vital connections. I am pleased to see that our longest-running macro-regional strategy continues to tackle the big issues and propose innovative solutions.”
The European Commission will introduce the EU Mission ”Restore our Oceans and waters by 2030”, which focusses on climate neutrality, circularity, and economic prosperity of the sea. The Interreg Baltic Sea Region team will explain how Interreg projects help implement the EUSBSR Action Plan and the potential for future cooperation. In addition, various side events, meetings and workshops of the EUSBSR stakeholders will be organised in Lappeenranta during the forum week.
The EUSBSR, the EU’s first macro-regional strategy, was launched in 2009. It covers a macroregion of more than 85 million people in 8 EU Member States (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden), welcoming also cooperation with the neighbouring countries of Norway and Iceland. The Strategy is divided into three objectives, which represent the three key challenges of the Strategy: saving the sea, connecting the region and increasing prosperity