The 21^st Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference St Petersburg 26-28 August 2012

The 21^st Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference, BSPC, was convened in Saint Petersburg on 26-28^th August under the overall theme "Energy, Ecology and Social Welfare: Cooperation for a Sustainable Development of the Baltic Sea Region". The conference attracted over 200 politicians, government officials, experts, representatives of stakeholder organizations and the industry of the Baltic Sea Region, as well as youth organizations and NGOs. A wide range of high-level presentations and political debate targeted issues such as regional partnership and cross-border cooperation, energy efficiency and green growth, integrated maritime policy, health and social welfare, and labour market mobility. The Chairman of the BSPC in 2011-2012, Ms Valentina Pivnenko, the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, together with Mr Ivan Melnikov, first Vice-Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, opened the conference.

The conference was concluded with the unanimous adoption of a resolution, expressing the political positions and recommendations of parliamentarians from the entire Baltic Sea Region.

Closing the conference, Ms Pivnenko handed over the Chairman´s gavel to Ms Laine Randjärv, Vice Speaker of the Riigikogu, the Estonian Parliament, which will be hosting the 22^nd BSPC in Pärnu on 26-27 August 2013.

The conference Resolution, in English and Russian, together with presentations and supplementary information from the conference, can be found on the right-hand side.

For further information about the 21^st BSPC, contact Jan Widberg, Head of BSPC Secretariat, at jw@norden.org