Baltic Sea States
Subregional
Co-operation
Photos: Kristian Singh-Nergård
BSSSC ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2022
The 30th annual conference is upon us!
On 19 October, we concluded the 30th BSSSC annual conference. It was two intense days full of substantive exchanges of opinions and ideas.
At the beginning of the event, the representatives of the Baltic Sea States gathered in Palanga were welcomed by the Deputy Mayor of Palanga Rimantas Antanas Mikalkėnas. Conference guests Wojciech Dorżynkiewicz, Secretary General of the BSSSC, Kęstutis Kudzmanas, Ambassador-at-Large of the Economic Security Policy Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, Johannes Schraps, President of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference, and Florian Rudolph, Director of the Northern Europe Department of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, welcomed the conference participants on behalf of the German Presidency of the Baltic Sea Council. A keynote speech on the new reality of Europe and the Baltic Sea Region after 24 February was delivered by Grzegorz Poznanski, Director General of the Council of Baltic Sea States.
The lively programme continued with workshop discussions on circular bioeconomy, blue bioeconomy and renewable energy with experts from various Baltic Sea countries. The first day of the conference concluded with a discussion on funding opportunities for regional bioeconomy initiatives.
The second day of the event began with a question of European importance - how the bioeconomy contributes to the EU's Green Deal goals. The discussion was moderated by Markku Markkula, Chairman of the Helsinki-Ausima Regional Board, Marius Vaščega, Head of the European Commission Representation in Lithuania, and P-Étienne Métais, Regional Director of CDP Europe.
Together with the participants, the BSSSC youth events held on October 16-18 and the Youth Policy for 2021 were reviewed to highlight the most relevant issues for young people in the bioeconomy. The conference also discussed the development of innovation in the Baltic Sea region and presented the activities of the BSSSC Innovation Development Working Group.
Highlights of the conference, proposals and regional issues were included in the Conference Resolution, which was adopted during the conference. The resolution is available at ➡️ https://bit.ly/BSSSC-Resolution-2022.
The conference concluded with the news that representatives of the city of Szczecin in Poland will host next year's BSSSC Annual Conference. Thank you to the Baltic representatives, experts and guests who gathered in such large numbers this year and actively shared their best practices! Stay tuned for more news after the conference and see you next year in Poland!
