CBSS Secretariat at the Stratgic Leaders Forum in St.Petersburg, Russia
During the Strategic Planning Leaders Forum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 22-23 October 2018, the CBSS Secretariat was involved in several sessions and panel discussions:
CBSS Senior Adviser Daria Akhutina presented the current developments and a future outlook on the CBSS’ work – taking into account the CBSS Vision Group Report at the session on “Innovative, Accessible and Sustainable Baltic Sea Region: Russia-EU Macro-Regional Cooperation Stakeholders”, which was organised in close cooperation with EUSBSR HA Neighbours.
Special focus was also given to the work of the CBSS Expert Group on Sustainable Maritime Economy (EGSME), represented at the Forum by the Group’s Latvian chair Inta Rozenšteine and the CBSS Secretariat. At the session “Main Areas and Perspectives for International Cooperation in the Development of the Maritime Economy”, the revised format of the EGSME and the Latvian priorities, which highlight cooperation among small and medium-sized ports in the Baltic Sea Region were introduced.
The importance of marine economy in various countries and regions had been pointed out by all speakers during the session’s panel discussion. The European Commission (DG MARE) actively promoted the “Blue Growth” concept that includes different aspects of the harmonious development of coastal regions using the potential of the maritime economy such as marine bio-resources, tourism and transport. Maritime cooperation is considered an essential strategic area of the regional cooperation in our region, and the CBSS EGSME plays a key role in supporting and further developing this cooperation by bringing together major stakeholders of this area such as governments, academia and businesses.
CBSS Baltic 2030 Programme Coordinator, Olga Zuin co-moderated the panel session “Stakeholders for Sustainable Future: Implementing and Monitoring the 17 SDGs of the UN Agenda 2030 in the Baltic Sea Region” starting with presenting the current state of play in the Baltic Sea Region and Russia regarding the SDGs implementation, based on the report “Baltic 2030 Bumps on the Road” and the SDGs Index and Dashboard report 2018. Furthermore, the Baltic Leadership Programme on 2030 Agenda was introduced in cooperation with Gabor Schneider from the Swedish Institute, and Yana Kachenyuk, who represented Russia during the first ReGeneration 2030 Summit in Åland. Ms Kachenyuk underlined the importance of providing the youth with the ability to influence decision-making processes for achieving sustainable development.
During the Forum, youth representatives participated in the panels and took part in tailor-made activities during the Youth Platform bringing together young people and representatives of state and regional authorities from Russia to discuss and provide proposals regarding youth involvement when cooperating to achieve the SDGs. One of the activities of the Youth Platform was the business game “Maritime spatial planning – You are a decision maker!”, which allowed the young participants to try on the roles of different stakeholders for planning a rational use of natural resources in the Baltic Sea Region considering its social, economic and ecological factors. Additionally, Tatiana Lanshina from Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Youth – Russia, moderated the activities of the creative laboratory “ReGeneration 2030 Manifesto: Russian Horizon” with the support of CBSS Baltic 2030, where 30 young people gathered to discuss how to translate the key messages of ReGeneration 2030 and its Manifesto into the Russian context.
The outcome of discussions resulted in a Youth Declaration which was introduced by Daria Lampadova in the final plenary of the Forum.