News

On 19 March, the first meeting of the National Commission for the Supervision of the Implementation of the European Union’s Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. Issues of the management of the strategy’s implementation, its financing and public awareness issues were discussed during the meeting.

Chairman of the Commission and Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Asta Skaisgirytė Liauškienė noted that a good start for the implementation of the strategy was made. According to her, the European Commission and partners in the region gave a very positive assessment of the ongoing work in the area of transport, which Lithuania coordinates together with Sweden, as well as of the work that was started in the area of agriculture and fisheries, coordinated together with Finland and Sweden.

The Chairman of the Commission also drew attention to the fact that the successful implementation of the strategy required public authorities, social and economic partners to continue to take interest in these issues, to keep up their motivation and “from the bottom to the top” initiatives.

“In order to turn the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region into a success story and a good example for other emerging EU’s macro-regions, it is necessary to strive to start quickly making concrete actions and initiating regional projects, as well as to maintain the pace of their implementation. We also have to think about including third countries, firstly the Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation and Belarus, into certain projects,” Vice-Minister A.Skaisgirytė Liauškienė said.

The first results of the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region will be discussed during the annual conference of social and economic partners on 14-15 October in Tallinn (Estonia).

The National Commission for the Supervision of the Implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region was established on 10 February 2010 by the resolution of the Government of Lithuania, aiming to ensure an effective coordination of the implementation of the strategy and practical inter-institutional steps, accountability and dissemination of information. The Commission consists of representatives from all Lithuania’s ministries and other state institutions, as well as from social and economic partners.

The European Council adopted the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region on 29-30 October 2009. The strategy allows eight EU member states - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden - to jointly address the issues that are important for the entire region. The EU Strategy allows for a more efficient use of the EU funds, better coordination of countries’ positions and making the most of the Baltic Sea region’s development potential, in order to create an environmentally sustainable, prosperous, accessible, attractive and safe region.