BSSSC at StrateGov October 28-29, 2019

BSSSC took part in the Forum StrateGov in St. Petersburg October 28-29, 2019. BSSSC were there to contribute to the dialog about macro regional strategies and cooperation between the EUSBSR and the North-West Russian Federal District Strategy.

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The Forum StrateGov has been held annually since 2002 and is a platform for discussion of methods and tools of strategic planning for regions and cities in Russia. BSSSC have been attending for several years. Secretary General in BSSSC, Ann Irene Sæternes was invited to speak in the round table named “Creating common platforms towards sustainable development of macro-regions: North-West Russian Federal District Strategy and the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region”.  In her intervention she underlined the need to make use of the full potential of all BSR actors and to use of the SDGs to engage broader and be more inclusive and transparent. BSSSC has decided to mainstream the SDGs in its work, and Sæternes underlined the need for the macro strategies to push the development in the same direction. She said “We need everyone onboard. EU members and neighbors, Russia and Norway alike”.

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BSSSC Executive Secretary, Lars Lund Godbolt, was present at a workshop on the Regeneration 2030. He emphasized the need to involve youth in today’s decision-making and presented how BSSSC work with youth. Present were several stakeholders of the North-West Russian Federal District Strategy and several Russian youths. ReGeneration 2030 is a movement led by teenagers and young adults in the Nordic and Baltic Sea Regions making the United Nations Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs) become reality. You can read more about it here.

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Northern Dimension (ND) and cooperation with Russia is one of the cross cutting themes of the BSSSC workplan. BSSSC recognises the importance of continued dialogue and cooperation with regions in Russia despite the political situation on national and supranational levels. BSSSC welcomes the opportunity to cooperate in concrete projects with Russian partners through the Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme as well as within the cross-border programmes.

 
 

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