Advancing VASAB Vision 2040, VASAB Ministerial Tallinn Declaration and Strengtening Planners’ Network

The year 2025 has proven to be an intensive and productive period for the VASAB Secretariat, marked by significant events and contributions across various initiatives.

A highlight of the year was the successful 5th Baltic Maritime Spatial Planning Forum held in Riga, which provided a platform for stakeholders to discuss key maritime spatial and coastal planning issues. In addition to this event, VASAB made extensive contributions to ongoing projects, including Baltic Sea2Land, the Land-based Planners’ Forum, NESBp, and the new Interreg Baltic Sea Region project platform Baltic PlaNet.

As a co-coordinator of the Policy Area Spatial Planning within the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR), VASAB played a pivotal role in organizing a parallel session at the EUSBSR Annual Forum in Sopot, Poland. This session facilitated important discussions on spatial planning and regional cooperation.

In response to the pressing regional challenges, the VASAB Ministerial Tallinn Declaration on Spatial Resilience was adopted in June 2025 by the Ministers responsible for spatial planning and development from Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, and Estonia. This declaration underscores VASAB’s commitment to enhancing resilience in spatial planning across the Baltic Sea Region.

Looking ahead to 2026, VASAB will continue to align its efforts with contemporary challenges facing the Baltic Sea Region. The Secretariat has identified several key focus areas for the upcoming year:

• Ongoing Implementation of VASAB Vision 2040: The commitment to the strategic vision will remain a priority, with an emphasis on two main directions: supporting current projects and conducting a comprehensive analysis of potential synergies with other Policy Areas within the EUSBSR. This analysis will provide valuable insights into the implementation of VASAB Vision 2040 actions, identify gaps, and set clear priorities for future project initiatives and funding needs.
• Strengthening Spatial Resilience: Building on the VASAB Ministerial Tallinn Declaration, VASAB will explore ways to enhance resilience through planning processes. This entails investigating the role of spatial factors in promoting resilience within regions and communities.
• Further Development of the Professional Network: With the Land-based Planners’ Forum set to conclude in early 2026, VASAB aims to leverage the outcomes of this project to foster a comprehensive and professional network of spatial planners across the Baltic Sea Region. VASAB will continue to focus on both, maritime and terrestrial planning, ensuring wider engagement with local and regional planning professionals by finding the best possible communication and knowledge sharing means.
• Promoting Collaboration and Results: The Secretariat will persist in promoting the results of VASAB’s work while seeking to establish closer cooperation with relevant organizations and institutions in the Baltic Sea Region and beyond.
• Young Planners’ Summer School: VASAB is exploring the ways how to successfully continue initiative of Young Planners’ Summer School by organizing this event in August in Gdansk, Poland, providing a possibility for new generation of spatial planning professionals to meet and address most up-to-date spatial planning and development challenges in the region.

The VASAB Secretariat is poised for a dynamic 2026, building on the foundations laid in 2025 while navigating the evolving landscape of spatial planning in the Baltic Sea Region. We are looking for new co-operations and project initatives and if you feel that we could work together, we warmly invite you to contact us!

Wishing you a calm winter season and happy New Year!

Head of VASAB Secretariat
Mārtiņš Ulāns