European Union Strategy Forum for the Baltic Sea Region in Gdańsk

The Forum is the most important event concerning the development of the Baltic Sea, the closed-loop economy and demographic problems.

The theme of the 10th European Union Strategy Forum for the Baltic Sea Region is connected with the future of the Baltic Sea Region. The most important challenges are demographic changes and ecological economy. Participants can choose from 19 thematic seminars, including depopulation, ageing, migration, new models of production and consumption, but also new social, cultural, mobility and labour market patterns that affect everyday behaviours.

During the second day of the Forum, in the panel entitled “Reduce, reuse, rethink: Connecting EU macro-regions”, will be attended by representatives of the Port of Gdynia Authority SA and the Association of Polish Regions of the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor.

The Forum is an opportunity to promote the effort undertaken by Poland for the sustainable development of the region. The two-day meetings are an opportunity to learn more about the assumptions of the strategy, to look at the tasks already completed and the possibilities of obtaining financial resources for international projects. It is also an exchange of good practices and contacts.

Additionally, during the forum, special factual reports are presented. The research presented in them is related to:

Scenarios for the development of the Closed Circuit Economy (CBE) in the Baltic Sea Region.
The best examples of LGO projects at the local and regional level in the Baltic Sea Region.
Jubilee publication summarizing 10 years of implementation of the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.

The organizer of the 10th European Union Strategy Forum for the Baltic Sea Region is the Marshal’s Office of Pomorskie Voivodeship in partnership with Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation BSSSC) in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (associated partner of the project) and the European Commission.

The European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (SUERMB) was launched in 2009.

It is the first EU macro-regional strategy and complements national territorial management policies. It covers eight EU countries around the Baltic Sea (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden) and allows cooperation with non-EU countries (especially Norway, Iceland, Russia and Belarus). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland plays the role of the National Coordinator for SUERMB.

The entities working for the SUERMB implementation, thanks to an innovative approach to regional cooperation and through specific projects, jointly solve the problems of the Baltic Sea region. The essence of SUERMB is to implement transnational flagship projects to protect the ecosystem and improve the condition of the Baltic Sea waters, create favourable conditions for increasing prosperity and developing regional infrastructure (e.g. combating environmental pollution, developing modern solutions for maritime navigation). This activity reflects the three main objectives of SUERMB: Save the Sea, Connect the Region, Increase Prosperity. The cooperation takes place on many levels: governmental, regional and local and with the participation of the scientific community, research centres, non-governmental organizations, institutions managing operational programmes, as well as the private sector.

Rel (UMWP)

Photo: Sławomir Lewandowski