Dear VASAB Friends,
After warm and sunny summer holidays the next VASAB newsletter is here to keep you updated on our latest activities. The summer has brought us plenty of good news and ideas which we are glad to share with you.
Latvia takes over VASAB Chairmanship
From 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019, Latvia will preside over the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS). Latvia will also be chairing VASAB Committee on Spatial Planning and Development of the Baltic Sea Region (CSPD/BSR) – a steering body of this cooperation. Mr Gunārs Ansiņš, Liepaja City Council Vice Chairman on Development and Cooperation will chair the VASAB CSPD/BSR. He has Master’s Degree on Environmental Science and Management and has served as a Chairman of the VASAB CSPD/BSR also during previous round of Latvian Presidency in 2008. Latvia has taken over chairmanship from Sweden, the next chairing country after Latvia will be Denmark. Read more.
Work on assessing the application of Baltic Sea Common Regional MSP Framework has started As part of Pan Baltic Scope project VASAB is evaluating implementation of Baltic Sea Broad-Scale MSP Principles and Guidelines on transboundary consultations, public participation and co-operation as well as achievements of regional targets of the Regional Baltic MSP Roadmap 2013-2020.
Assessment is being done to see how the framework works in practice, how successful the countries have been in implementing it and to come up with suggestions on possible improvements in existing framework to set the scope for future agenda. Follow assessment HERE.
VASAB and HELCOM as EUSBSR Horizontal Action “Spatial Planning” coordinators have received a technical assistance grant for the new HASPS 3 project. Starting from September 2018 project will continue the work of the previous HASPS and HASPS-2 projects. Grant is financed by the European Union through the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme 2014-2020. Read more.
Baltic Sea Region Young Planners Contest
VASAB has initiated “Baltic Sea Region Young Planners Contest” to collect fresh ideas and enhance perspective of young planning professionals about the Baltic Sea Region`s future. Young Planners Contest has been supported by Swedish Institute Seed funding for cooperation projects in the Baltic Sea Region. Contest will be organized by Boverket (SE), VASAB and Institute of Socio-economic Geography and Spatial Management in Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (PL). Read more.
Video promoting EUSBSR
VASAB is one of the key implementors of this Strategy coordinating the Horizontal Action Spatial Planning and acting as one of the partners in the EUSBSR communication support project "Let's Communicate!". Within this project VASAB has organized the production of the promotional video about the EUSBSR to explain and communicate the main objectives of the strategy.
Find the long and short versions of the videos on YouTube!
UPCOMING EVENTS
6 September, Liepaja, Latvia
Discussion on ESPON project “European and Macro-regional Territorial Monitoring Tool”;
VASAB workshop “Smart urban governance in times of transition. Resilience of small and medium cities in the Baltic sea Region”
30 – 31 October, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Energy Challenge for the Baltic Sea: An International Meeting and Interactive Simulation
Workshop for energy sector experts organized by the project Baltic LINes will explore future scenarios of the energy sector in Baltic Sea Region. More information soon on www.balticlines.eu
12 - 15 November, Riga, Latvia MSP Week in Riga
12 – 13 November BSR MSP Data group meeting and Pan Baltic Scope data meeting
13 – 14 November Baltic LINes project partner meeting
14 – 15 November Joint HELCOM-VASAB MSP WG meeting
VASAB Secretariat at your service - follow our news and events on our homepage and social media!
VASAB Vision and Strategies Around the Baltic Sea
Alberta Street 10, Riga, Latvia www.vasab.org info@vasab.org
