The European Commission is organising the 2^nd edition of the Our Baltic Conference in Palanga (Lithuania) on 29 September 2023. This high-level event will bring together ministers from the 8 EU countries surrounding the Baltic Sea (Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland and Sweden). VASAB is invited to give short presentation on VASAB Vision 2040 and the eMSP NBSR project.

Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius and ministers will look at what has been achieved since the first Our Baltic Conference in 2020, and what still needs to be done. There will be a special focus on unexploded munitions from World Wars, as some 300 000 tonnes of unexploded munitions still lie at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, causing pollution and preventing the development of economic activities at sea.

VASAB is honoured to be invited to the Conference to present the spatial planning cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region, its recent Vision 2040, as well as showcasing a good example of established cooperation platform between the two sea basins of Baltic and North seas within the eMSP NBSR project (Emerging ecosystem-based Maritime Spatial Planning topics in North and Baltic Sea Regions).

The main topics of the Conference will be – environment & fisheries, blue economy and unexploded munitions – all closely linked to the sustainable maritime development where Maritime Spatial Planning can be a great support for balancing various interests with environmental constraints. In this regard VASAB jointly with HELCOM is continuously working together for coherent Maritime Spatial Planning across the Baltic Sea.

More information on the 2nd Our Baltic Conference is here.