The second annual Round Table of the Baltic Sea Labour Forum (BSLF), targeting youth employment and mobility of labour, was convened in Hamburg on 15 November 2012.
The Round Table gathered some 50 representatives of social partners in the Baltic Sea Region, together with government officials and labour market experts.
Addressing the Round table, Jan Widberg reaffirmed that labour market issues are high on the agenda of the BSPC. In the 21st BSPC Resolution, Governments are i.a. urged to to develop a medium- to long-term strategy equipped with powerful measures to tackle youth unemployment, and to ensure that existing programmes with this aim are better coordinated. On cross-border mobility, it is necessary to reduce obstacles to the mobility of labour and enterprises, for instance by actively supporting cooperation between the border regions and between the existing cross-border information centers. It is also essential to pursue efforts for a gradual phasing out of the visa regime between the EU and Russia. He moreover reiterated BSPC’s full support to the BSLF as a region-wide platform for social dialogue, tripartite cooperation and sustainable regional economic development.
The Baltic Sea Labour Forum, launched in November 2011 is a unique network for dialogue and cooperation between employers and trade union organisations, governmental and parliamentary institutions.