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Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027 public consultations have started!

The Joint Programming Committee approved a draft of the Interreg South Baltic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021-2027. An external contractor prepared a draft report of the Programme Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).
Now, you can HAVE YOUR SAY!

Add your comments until 15th October 2021.

South Baltic programme JS Team is happy to announce that the Joint Programming Committee approved a draft of the Interreg South Baltic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021-2027. In parallel, an external contractor prepared a draft report of the Programme Strategic Environmental Assessment.

This means that we are ready to announce the documents and start public consultations. It is time to share your opinion and contribute to the future of the South Baltic Programme.

Use the opportunity to get familiar with the draft documents: 

and give your feedback by filling in two separate online questionnaires:

We also encourage you to take a direct and active part in the seminars organised by the Regional Contact Points of the South Baltic Programme. Relevant information will be announced on our website in the Events section as well as on the Programme’s social media platforms FacebookLinkedin and directly by the Contact Points.  

The public consultation process will take 37 days. The deadline for submitting comments is 15 October 2021

Your feedback is very valuable in developing the new Programme and will be used by the Joint Programming Committee to finalise the programming process.

Best regards

South Baltic Team


More information: https://lnkd.in/gAjagy4U

#PublicConsultations#SouthBaltic#Interreg#JPC#SailingTogether

Interreg South Baltic Programme seeks to stronger involve local, regional & non-governmental stakeholders as well as academia in the programming process. Euroregion Baltic, a Lead Partner of the ”Umbrella – Boosting cross-border cooperation capacities of local actors in the South Baltic Sea” project decided to become an active part of this process. Between October and December 2020 ERB/Umbrella project organised:

  1. Four thematic focus group workshops

•Blue & green growth

•Energy transition & connectivity

•Sustainable & innovative tourism –and cultural heritage

•Building civil & more inclusive society

  • Umbrella project final conference on 2.12.2020 with a panel called: South Baltic Programme – Future. Speakers:
  • Niels Chresten Andersen, Regional Municipality on Bornholm

Introduction of the panel. South Baltic programme 2021-27 – state of art

  • Dominika Butkiewicz, Head of the Joint Secretariat of South Baltic Programme

Proposed Priority Axes and specific objectives of the next Interreg South Baltic Programme

  • Anna Drążek, Director of the Pomorskie EU Office in Brussels, ‘Pomorskie in the EU’ Association
  • Jens Masuch, GA-MA Consulting

Input on the future of the South BalticProgramme given by the Umbrella beneficiaries summary – report

  • Direct consultations with the representatives of the Council of Non-Governmental Organizations of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (ROPWWM) and request to provide their written feedback

Organisations actively involved in the process – their representatives took part in the 4 thematic focus group workshops:

1. BMUC Innovation & Development, Member of the Offshore Center Bornholm, Denmark

2. Energy Agency for Southeast Sweden, Sweden

3. Municipality of Västervik, Sweden

4. Symbiosis Kalundborg, Denmark

5. Baltic Tech Park, Klaiped, Lithuania

6. Warmia and Masuria University, Centrum Biogospodarki i Energii Odnawialnych (CBEO), Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie, Poland

7. Pomorskie Voivodeship, Economic Development Department, Energy Efficiency office, Poland

8. Baltic Institute for Regional Affairs, Gdynia, Poland

9. Western Ships Agency (legal name in Lithuanian language UAB ,,Vakarų laivų agentai”) , Lithuania

10. Gate 21, NGO, Albertslund, Denmark

11. “Pomorskie in the European Union” Association, Gdańsk, Poland

12. Klaipeda Association of Communities, Lithuania

13. Roskilde University, Denmark

14. Municipality of Kalmar, Sweden

15. Municipality of Guldborgsund, Denmark

16. Kalmar County Museum, Sweden

17. New Competence Center., Gdańsk, Poland

18. Netport Karlshamn , Sweden

19. Rotorwerk, consulting company, Germany

20. European Solidarity Center Gdansk, Poland

21. DIALOG Association, Poland

22. Water Users Partnership Oskarshamn, Sweden

23. Kalmar County Administrative Board, Sweden

24. Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IOPAN), Poland

25. Gdansk Water (Gdanskie Wody sp. z o.o) , Poland

26. Voivodeship Fund for Environmental Protection & Water Management in Olsztyn, Poland

27. Masuria Entrepreneurship Agency, Poland

28. Leibnitz Institute of Farmed Animals Biology, Dummerstorf, Germany

29. Linneus University of Kalmar, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Sweden

30. Region Kalmar County, Sweden

31. Municipality of Karlskrona, Sweden

32. Oskarshamn Municipality, Sweden

33. Bornholms Museum, Denmark

34. Museum Lolland-Falster, Denmark

35. Baltic Sea Cultural Centre, Gdańsk, Poland

36. Tourism Associiation Vorpommern, Germany

37. The Coastal Union Germany (EUCC-D), Germany

38. University of Gdańsk, Poland

39. CSE Światowid, Elbląg, Poland

40. CittaSlow cities, Olsztyn, Poland

41. Pomorskie Tourism Board, Gdańsk, Poland

Joint Secretariat of the Interreg South Baltic Programme has released information about the current state-of-the-art in programming the Interreg SBP for the years 2021-2027. You can read it below on go directly to the Interreg SBP website: https://southbaltic.eu/interreg-south-baltic-2021-2027

Euroregion Baltic is directly involved in the works on the new Programme for 2021-2027 being an active member of the Joint Programming Committee, members of two SWokring Groups for the new Programme, as we as leading the Join Delegation of Euroregions in the Programme Monitoring Committee.

The Joint Programming Committee (JPC) was established and the 1st meeting took place on 4th February 2020, during the meeting, the JPC Rules of Procedure, as well as Terms of Reference for the socio-economic analisys, were adopted. In the following months, the public procurement procedure was carried out and the best offer was selected. Contract with the PWC Advisory was signed on 18th June 2020.

During the second meeting of the JPC held on 22nd of June 2020, PWC Advisory presented the methodological report and the first results of the study. The cooperation with the Contractor was divided into two stages:

  • In the first stage, Contractor was obliged to conduct socio-economic analysis, SWOT/TOWS analysis and Problems and Objectives Tree (POT). The socio-economic analysis, SWOT and POT stage ended on 8 October 2020 and it was a starting point for further discussions and decisions on Programme Strategy, Priorities and Specific Objectives;
  • In the second stage on the basis of the conducted research, surveys and workshops with JPC, MA, JS, public stakeholders etc. (held in the Summer) as well as requirements and requests submitted during the 3rd JPC meeting (10th September 2020), Contractor prepared a proposal of the Programme Strategy, Priority Axes and Specific Objectives, covering:

In the Programme Strategy

– characteristics of the eligible area; 

– most important common challenges;

– characteristics of the basic social, economic and territorial differences occurring in the CP area.

In the Programme Priorities and Specific Objectives

– justification of the choice;

– related types of actions and their expected contribution;

– indicative percentage breakdown of funds by category of intervention;

– first proposal of the output indicators and result indicators selected from the common list;

– the main target groups.

The first proposal of the Strategy and Programme Priorities was delivered on 20 October 2020 by the PWC Advisory. Working Group 1 was established by the JPC (20 October 2020) and started work jointly with the Contractor on Programme Strategy and Priorities. During the 4th JPC meeting organised on 3-4 November, 2020 first draft of the Strategy was presented.

The next step was the establishment (19 November 2020) of the Working Group 2 for the implementation arrangements of the future Programme. Afterwards, the second draft of the Strategy and Programme Priorities incorporating the results of the WG1 discussions was developed on 30 November 2020.

Currently, work is focused on the joint elaboration of contribution to Programme Document according to the template for Interreg Programmes as stated in the draft of Interreg regulation:

  • Programme strategy: main development challenges and policy responses etc.;
  • Priorities, covering: specific objectives, types of actions, indicators, main target groups etc.; 
  • Financing plan (incl. ERDF and national co-financing);
  • Implementing provisions (Programme Authorities, liabilities of Member States );
  • Use of simplified costs options.

During the 5th JPC meeting planned for 12th January 2021, the final draft of the Strategy, Priorities and Specific Objectives should be adopted. In the next steps planned for I – II Quarter of 2021, the process of drafting of the Cooperation Programme document as well as Strategic Environmental Assessment will begin.

The Joint Secretariat of the Interreg South Baltic Programme encourages all stakeholdrs to take part in the public consultations of these documents. Information will appear on the programme website in due course.

The past year was the final and firmly the busiest year for the Interreg South Baltic Interconnect project which started in June 2017. 2020 began with some great news from one of the project partners, Innobaltica (Poland), who announced an open tender for the implementation of FALA – integrated ticket for the Pomorskie Region –  a charges collecting system for transportation in collective passenger transport and a consistent passenger information system, standard for both coordinators and carriers.

On February 17th the Interconnect project was presented on a hearing regarding the revision of the TEN-T regulation held by Ministry of Infrastructure in Sweden. During the conference, the Interconnect project Manager Mr Mattias Andersson, representing Region Blekinge, had an opportunity to emphasise the importance of cross-border public transport. The collaboration between Blekinge and Pomorskie Region in the Interconnect project was set as a good example where regions collaborate with private players, in this case, Stena Line, to find new ticket solutions.

In March 2020, the South Baltic success story series, developed within ERB’s Umbrella project, noted the Interconnect project as an example of Interreg South Baltic Programme success story, offering an understanding of the best practices and the success of the project’s results and outcomes.

On March 11th 2020, a first partnership meeting was held in Karlskrona, Sweden. Due to the travel restrictions following the Covid -19 pandemic, only ten persons participated in Region Blekinge office, and two persons experienced online. During this meeting, partners discussed the multigovernance co-operation model for public transport in the South Baltic area, the main outputs of the project, and the project’s final conference details. The partnership has submitted a request for changes where additional activities were mentioned and a prolongation of the implementation period of 6 months until the end of November 2020. Furthermore, a decision was made to postpone the final conference to preliminary October 1st 2020, instead of May 7th and most likely to hold it online.

At the turn of March and April 2020, Joint Secretariat agreed on the project’s prolongation by six months while Monitoring Committee approved all requests for changes.

With the begging of June, The Hanseatic Institute for Entrepreneurship and Regional Development at the University of Rostock (HIE-RO) announced it is about to deliver an Indicator-based self-evaluation tool in Excel for public transport planners within the task 4.2 “Implementing a multi-stakeholder planning model for public transport services”. The tool’s main objective is to develop an easy-to-use self-evaluation (or monitoring) indicator tool in Excel that can be used by public transport planners to evaluate the performance of the local and regional (public) transport system.

Between 13th and 26th of July, a joint Danish-German exhibition called “ekspeditioNORD” took place, as part of the German-Danish year of cultural friendship. The event was co-financed by the Interconnect project on the principle of supporting co-operation and cross – border interconnections between local governments and public administrations and civil societies with a specific focus on educational institutions and schools, culture and tourism organisations and business co-operations.

In August Mr Mattias Andersson, Interconnect Project leader was invited by Mukran Port in Germany to participate in ‘South Baltic Transport Loops’ project partnership meeting, where he had a chance to speak about the findings the Interconnect project and discuss the cross-project exchange.

In August, the Polish Ministry of Development Fund and Regional Policy has chosen the Interconnect Project to be promoted as one of the best projects of Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020. Therefore, a photo session was organised to present the main goals and achievements of Interconnect Project. The photo session results were presented in December 2020 in a publication on “15 years of Interreg programs in Poland”.

Summer period ended up with information that the first Interconnect scientific paper on ‘PT Data for multi-stakeholder planning and monitoring excel tool for public transport services’ was accepted for publication at the CSTFM-conference in Madrid October 2020. The paper resulted from WP 3.5 and related to a process and solutions for sustainable cross-border and regional public transport.

With the beginning of September, intensive preparations for the upcoming Final Conference started. The invitation and conference agenda sent to more than 300 people and an intensive promoting campaign in social media began.

On September 8th, Mr Mattias Andersson attended the ERB Executive Board meeting. He presented the idea of establishing a new task force within ERB, concentrated on sustainable transport issues and related to the Interconnect project’s outputs.

On September 17th, the Project partner Mr Frede Danborg from Guldborgsund Kommune was invited to become one of the pannelists during the Interreg South Baltic Programme’s Annual Event celebrating 30 years of Interreg South Baltic. Mr Danborg had a chance to present the Interconnect project, its objectives and challenges throughout projects lifetime, and opportunities it has created to impact public transport in small Baltic Sea regions.

On October 1st 2020, the Interconnect Final Conference titled ‘Future of Public Transport – Trends, Tools, Governance’ was held online via Hop.in the platform. Nearly 100 participants from 14 countries joined the conference to take part in many valuable lectures on sustainable transport, cross-border passenger transport and new solutions in public transport given by experts from EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, The Hanseatic Institute for Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, InnobalticaBlekinge Institute of Technology and Interreg South Baltic. The participants also had a chance to hear panellists from ESPON ProgrammeInteract ProgrammeRegion Blekinge and Euroregion Baltic discussing and exchanging experience on various multilevel governance options.

In November, as a result of several workshops and discussions among project partners and experts in the transport sector, a Catalogue of Solutions for Sustainable Cross-Border and Regional Public Transport was finally developed and published on the project website.

The publication was shortly followed by the Interconnect Final Report on Guidelines on multilevel governance for Public Transport in the South Baltic Area published on November 25th 2020.

On November 30th 2020, partners from Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, and Viimsi Municipality in Estonia met for the last time, to sum up, the Interconnect project results. After 42 months of an exciting and fruitful co-operation, the Interconnect project partners from 6 EU countries met for the last time to finalise their work results achieved within the project. During the final meeting, the project partners had a chance, to sum up, their previous work & results within the project and share their experience and ideas for further co-operation. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the meeting was held online. All the partners expressed their hopes to continue cooperating to support the development of sustainable public transport, mobility and connectivity in South Baltic Area.

Finally on December 3rd 2020 during the final ERB Executive Board meeting in 2020 the Board members all agreed to establish another task force in the Euroregion Baltic – Mobility Core Group, which will consist of partners from the Interconnect project, as well as contact persons and experts from the ERB member organisations.

You can find information on our Interreg Baltic Sea Region Seed Money project on the Programme website in the projects library now. The project is the flagship activity of the Euroregion Baltic Water Core Group led by our ERB Member – Region Kalmar County from Sweden.

https://projects.interreg-baltic.eu/projects/waterman-seed-232.html

Climate-resilient wastewater and groundwater management by circular approaches that reduce outflows of nutrients and hazardous substances – WaterMan project

Reducing the outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea, in particular, is the primary concern of water management in the BSR and will remain its foremost task in the future. At the same time, the effects of climate change pose new challenges to water supply: Droughts limit in specific periods the quantity of water for various uses (e.g. drinking water, agriculture). Floods impair the

quality of drinking water – and thus indirectly its quantity, too. SMHI has predicted that problems linked to water shortage will become even more severe in the future.

The two mentioned tasks cannot be addressed as a question of either/or. The ambition must be to meet environmental goals at a high level and to secure water supply. Possible synergies between them, however, were hitherto not widely addressed: If effluent water is retained, re-circulated & re-used, water supply will not only be more secure & climate-resilient. At the same go, this will be an effective way to reduce outflows of

nutrients & hazardous substances.

WaterMan develops and promotes circular approaches to reduce outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea in particular, which at the same time contribute to the climate-resilient water supply. Its centre of attention is measures & techniques to re-use water from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the retention of water before flowing into the Baltic Sea. Thus, less

groundwater resources will be needed for drinking water production & other uses, and water supply becomes more climate-resilient.

The project focusses thereby on measures at the local level and on areas in the BSR, where the water supply may be significantly affected by climate change. Primary target group are, consequently, municipalities & water companies that are responsible for local water management.

WaterMan explicitly addresses this by developing circular approaches for local actors. Partnership and work plan will ensure that innovative solutions emerge and will disseminate them effectively to potential further users in the BSR:

– The project initiates a BSR-wide peer learning process among local authorities & water companies, which have experiences and a high level of proficiency. Thus, pre-work from different parts of the BSR can be transferred, combined and advanced. This will make local approaches more effective while decreasing individual efforts for development.

– The dissemination of “ready-to-use” solutions to be developed and tested is not regarded as “altruistic obligation”, but is a crucial concern of WaterMan.

Consequently, the partnership will include both, “hand-on partners” that develop & test new solutions (municipalities, water companies), and umbrella organisations (e.g. associations of local authorities) with a genuine interest in spreading the knowledge to their members.

New Umbrella project activities coming soon!If you’re interested in the elaboration of Interreg South Baltic Programme Strategy, its future Priority Axes and Specific Objectives for the programming process of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027, please let us know.

In October and November 2020 we will organise 4 online thematic sessions for the #SouthBaltic sea stakeholders to hear your voice and consult with you the objectives of the future programme. These will be later sent to the Programme Joint Programming Committee to help them prepare the tailored-made programme for our beneficiaries.

We will contact around 15 beneficiaries to participate in each session representing the civil society actors, socio-economic partners, small and medium municipalities etc. If you wish to share your insights with us, please contact UMBRELLA project partner from your country http://umbrellaproject.eu/partners/

We would like to present to you one of the outcomes of YCGN project – an ebook on “Youth civic engagement in the South Baltic Region.

The main aim of the YCGN project led by the Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic was to increase cross-border cooperation resulting in building capacity of local actors working with youth and to demonstrate the benefits of soft cross-border cooperation for solving common youth issues. Project objectives were: enhancing cross-border cooperation of young people in partner countries; improving capacity and competencies of local governments and their representatives to engage in civil dialogue with youth, and disseminating project results for the development of future plans for increased youth participation in local and cross-border issues in the SB region.

Download the full publication here:

https://sbycgn.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/YOUTH-CIVIC-PARTICIPATION-IN-THE-SOUTH-BALTIC-REGION-PDF-ENG.-VERSION.pdf

The issues of civic participation, including youth civic participation, have been present in both the scientific and political discourse for many years. The changes taking place in modern societies and civic activity encourage the search for effective solutions, especially systemic ones, to involve as many citizens as possible in decision-making processes.


The importance of youth issues has been emphasised in a number of European Union documents: the Maastricht Treaty, the Treaty of Lisbon, European Commission White Paper, the European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life, the European Pact for Youth and the EU Strategy for Youth. Young people are also the subject of many national documents: laws, ordinances and strategies of Sweden, Lithuania and Poland. However, neither the European Union policy nor the policies of Lithuania, Poland and Sweden concerning youth and its civic participation can ensure the desired level of youth engagement in decision-making concerning young people as citizens.

International projects, particularly those co-financed by the European Union, have an important role to play in promoting young people’s civic participation. They allow the exchange of knowledge and experience, the creation of new solutions to problems and their implementation at the grassroots level. This was the role of the South Baltic Youth Core Groups Network (SB YCGN) project implemented in the framework of the 2014–2020 Interreg V-A South Baltic Programme by a Polish-Lithuanian-Swedish partnership. One of its outputs is this monograph.

The aim of this study was to show youth civic participation as a social inclusion element in the Southern Baltic region in need of reinforcement, based on the examples of selected municipalities from Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. The authors focused on the diagnosis of key elements of youth civic engagement at the local and cross-border level, taking into account the context of national youth policies and the European Union policy.

The problem was highlighted from the perspective of two social groups: adult decision-makers represented by employees of local institutions and young people aged 14–24 from the Lithuanian municipality of Telšiai, Polish municipalities of Dzierzgoń, Elbląg, Gdynia, Iława and Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, and the Swedish municipality of Hässleholm. For this reason, the core part of the monograph consists of the results of quantitative studies and qualitative studies conducted on the two populations. The objective of the quantitative studies was to identify and assess the needs of institutions and young people relating to the stimulation of youth civic participation at local and cross-border level, youth engagement in decision-making processes, key barriers to civic participation of young people and effective forms and methods of involving youth in active citizenship.

The quantitative studies of institutions and youth were conducted by a Polish-Lithuanian group whose members were Prof. Krystyna Gomółka, Dr.
Izabela Borucińska (Gdańsk University of Technology), Prof. Ligita Šimanskienė and Dr. Jurgita Paužuolienė (Klaipeda University). The qualitative studies were carried out with the aim of supplementing and broadening the knowledge of youth civic participation issues at the local and cross-border level, with particular emphasis on political involvement. The authors of these studies were the Lithuanian team composed of Prof. Rimantas Stašys (Klaipeda University) and Dr Remigijus Civinskas (Vytautas Magnus University).

To read more about the YCGN project –
https://southbaltic.eu/-/sb-ycgn

Seed Money is funding provided by Interreg Baltic Sea Region to support the preparation of projects in line with the Action Plan of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. With Seed Money support, projects can be prepared for any funding source available in the region.

The Seed Money application procedure consists of two steps. In step one, an applicant submits a draft application to Policy Area and Horizontal Action Coordinators who preselect draft applications (typically six weeks after submission). In step two, authors of preselected draft applications are invited to submit full applications to the Managing Authority/Joint Secretariat (typically within six-eight weeks after preselection). The Monitoring Committee selects Seed Money projects for funding typically three months after submission.

Our application is the result of work undergoing in Water Core Group since May 2019. ECG submitted the concept note in Dec 2019 that was positively assessed by PA NUTRI Coordinators and we were invited to submit the full application. On 23rd March we have sent the file and we await the information from the JS. The results are expected in June 2020.

What is the project about?

Reducing the outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea, in particular, is the main concern of water management in the BSR and will remain its foremost task in the future. At the same time, the effects of climate change pose new challenges to water supply: Droughts limit in certain periods the quantity of water for various uses (e.g. drinking water, agriculture). Floods impair the quality of drinking water – and thus indirectly its quantity, too. SMHI has predicted that problems linked to water shortage will become even more severe in the future.
The two mentioned tasks cannot be addressed as a question of either/or. The ambition must be to meet environmental goals at a high level and to secure water supply. Possible synergies between them, however,
were hitherto not widely addressed: If effluent water is retained, re-circulated & re-used, water supply will not only be more secure & climate-resilient. At the same go, this will be an effective way to reduce outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances.

WaterMan develops and promotes circular approaches to reduce outflows of nutrients & hazardous substances to surface water, groundwater and the Baltic Sea in particular, which at the same time contribute to the climate-resilient water supply. Its centre of attention is measures & techniques to re-use water from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the retention of water before flowing into the Baltic Sea. Thus, less
groundwater resources will be needed for drinking water production & other uses and water supply becomes more climate-resilient.
The project focusses thereby on measures at the local level and on areas in the BSR, where the water supply may be particularly affected by climate change. Main target group are, consequently, municipalities & water
companies that are responsible for local water management.

This month we’ve participated in 12h Baltic Sea Tourism Forum #BSTF in Brussels. One of the panels: Success stories of international tourism cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region was moderated by Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło, Head of the ERB International Secretariat.

13 November 2019 | Brussels/Belgium 12th Baltic Sea Tourism Forum SHARE | INSPIRE | CREATE

Baltic Sea Tourism Forum In 2008 the then Ministry for Economy, Employment and Tourism and the Tourist Board of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern initiated the first Baltic Sea Tourism Forum (Summit) which took place in Rostock / Germany. Core aims of this touristic rapprochement process were to develop forms of collaboration, which complement the countries’, and regions’ own tourism strategies in a meaningful way and give the Baltic Sea as a tourism destination a better place on the market.

Major aims are:

 Support a sustainable and balanced development of tourism and voice the interest of the tourism economy in the Baltic Sea region.

 Strengthen the sustainable and responsible cooperation of all Baltic Sea region countries and exploit the existing international development potentials more efficiently.

 Provide and secure a permanent platform for information and know-how exchange with the Baltic Sea Tourism Forum at its core for continuous collaboration on the basis of a multilevel process.

 Position the Baltic Sea as a coherent travel destination on the global tourism market and promote the area as an attractive, safe and natural destination for international travellers.

Since 2012, the annual forum is closely linked to the implementation process of Policy Area Tourism in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. It contributes strongly to the aims of the macro-regional strategy, the revised action plan and defined actions adopted by the European Commission in 2015. Objectives of the 12th Baltic Sea Tourism Forum For the first time in the history of the annual tourism conference, the venue is located outside the Baltic Sea region – and for a good reason. With the participation of the European Union, this year’s forum aims to bring together stakeholders from the Baltic Sea region with institutions and representatives in Brussels. In the context of international cooperation successful examples from the Baltic Sea Region will be presented, suggestions for strategic and innovative approaches will be given and insights with regard to the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 provided. Inspiring keynotes on sustainability and the future of tourism will complement the agenda.

Under the motto SHARE | INSPIRE | CREATE the forum underlines the reasons for cooperation beyond national borders in a macro-regional context.

SHARE achievements, as the first session of the day, concentrates on the potentials and challenges of cross-border work by focusing on the overarching macro-regional strategies as well as on examples of interregional project initiatives. The exchange on experiences and future needs aims at helping to clarify commonalities as well as emphasising the advantages of sustainable cooperation at macro-regional level.

A more detailed insight on innovative approaches will be given in the session INSPIRE partners. BSR tourism market data & trends and international product & service development can mean long-term benefits for the tourism sector in the BSR and should be considered as an imperative when positioning the tourism industry on international level.

In terms of the new multiannual financial framework of the EU for the period 2021-2027, the third session is dedicated to CREATE perspectives. The new EU funding period will not just affect international cooperation, as it influences the funds available in programmes such as Interreg, but will also define thematic priorities of EU policy. A comprehensive outlook will provide a better understanding of how conditions need to be adjusted for the future of BSR tourism cooperation.

Date and Venue Renaissance Brussels Hotel // Rue du Parnasse 19, 1050 Brussels, Belgium www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/brubr-renaissance-brussels-hotel Contact point of the BSTF Baltic Sea Tourism Center Johannes Volkmar // j.volkmar@auf-nach-mv.de // +49 381 40 30 663 Anne Vollerthum // a.vollerthum@auf-nach-mv.de // +49 381 40 30 653

Presentations

Michael Cramer, MdEP
Asa Bjering, Baltic Sea Commission
Anna Pollock, Conscious.travel
Maciej Hofman, DG EAC | European Commission

Session 1: SHARE achievements

Blanka Belosevic, EUSAIR
Magda Leszczyna-Rzuidlo, Euroregion Baltic
Tomasz Naprawski, Baltic Museum: Love IT!
Ira Lahovuo, Archipelago Access
Niclas Fjellström, Baltic Sea Food
Constanze Metzger, Routes4U

Session 2: INSPIRE partners

Prof. Björn P. Jacobsen | Tjark Schlegel | Christopher Blank, University of Applied Sciences Stralsund
Karin Melbye Holm, Danish Tourism Innovation

Session 3: CREATE perspectives

Ramune Genzbigelyte-Venturi, DG Grow | European Commission
Joanna Mouliou, DG Regio | European Commisison
Andrea Krabbe, PAC Tourism (EUSBSR)
Lidija Bajaruniene, Ministry of Economy and Innovation of the Republic of Lithuania

We recommend visiting #BSTC profile: Balticsea.travel for inspiration on your future journeys.

#sustainabletourism #SouthBalticSea

Hi everyone!

Here are Milena and Danilo, two young Italian Ivy volunteers (lost) in Poland.

No, we didn’t know each other before and we are not doing the same project. Actually we don’t even live in the same city.

But last week there was a very interesting event in Gdansk, the “Communication Training for project manager”, organized by the South Baltic Interreg, and we have met there.

We couldn’t stop to talk about our different experiences:

I am an Interreg Project Partner the at International Permanent Secretariat Euroregion Baltic in Elblag, while Danilo is an Interreg Reporter at Joint Secretariat INTERREG SOUTH BALTIC PROGRAMME, in Gdansk.

What does it means?

Well, in few words, Danilo is mainly involved in communication and dissemination of information concerning INTERREG projects, cross-border cooperation and so on;

Regarding me,  instead, my tasks are more related to support and implement 2 INTERREG projects: CaSYPot, which aims is to find a common Youth Strategy among the Baltic Regions, and InterConnect, which focuses on new and more efficient public transport services.

Where do we live?

We are both in Poland; Danilo lives in Gdansk, one of the largest cities in Poland, on the Baltic Sea. It’s an international city, full of students, tourists and young people. There is a river that goes into the city centre, which reminds me of Navigli in Milano, just to give you an idea.

I live in Elblag, not far from Gdansk. Ok, we don’t have the sea, but we have beautiful parks and forests. When the weather is nice I go with my super-bike among trees and wild vegetation.

What’s next?

Honestly, we don’t know exactly, but for sure this experience has brought us a lot. We are both thinking of staying in Poland for the future, or maybe for a few years.

Danilo has even managed to learn a bit of Polish, which, believe me, is not easy at all!

We want to say thanks to IVY for this experience, thanks to Euroregion Baltic International Permanent Secretariat and Joint Secretariat Interreg South Baltic Programme to host us,

we are learning a lot from You, from the organizations and from the people are behind them.

The content of this website is the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union, the Managing Authority or the Joint Secretariat of the South Baltic Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020. The project UMBRELLA is partly financed from the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 through the European Regional Development Fund.