The first presentation of the Baltic Sea Strategy Point at the Europe forum
Finland's role and activities in Europe and the EU are of interest to citizens. This is evidenced by the growth of Europe Forum, which in five years’ time has become a significant arena for societal debate. This year, there were over 40 organizers and more than 30 program sections.
Centrum Balticum's focus was naturally the Baltic Sea Region cooperation and Europe. The most important framework for cooperation in the Baltic Sea region is the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR), as most of the coastal states of the Baltic Sea belong to the European Union. The aim of the strategy is to strengthen region’s cooperation in order to meet the common challenges and to benefit from common opportunities facing the region. As the strategy works in many layers and with many actors, there is a need to for coordination. The Baltic Sea Strategy Point was established to support, coordinate and communicate the strategy. The expert, Juhani Ailio from Centrum Balticum presented the newly established Baltic Sea Strategy Point, which will be led by Centrum Balticum together with the city of Hamburg.
The main features of the EUSBSR were presented by Henrik Veikanmaa, the attaché at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. The ministry led the renewal process of the EUSBSR, which was done in 2021. There are now 14 policy areas in the strategy. PA Safe, which focuses on maritime safety and environmental issues, was presented as an example. Leading expert Valtteri Laine from Traficom, which is responsible for PA Safe, presented PA Safe's function and operations.
You can follow the presentations afterwards on the live pages of the Europe Forum, europeforum.fi/en/live/
